A New Day

Most adults seem to lose that sense of anticipation and wonder. Perhaps, because we’ve gotten enough gifts over the years that were less than exciting, we’ve become conditioned to believe that this gift is not going to be all that great. Perhaps it’s because we spell out so specifically to our loved ones what we want them to get for us that it is absolutely no mystery to us when the gift is actually placed in front of us. I didn’t even bother trying to act surprised when I opened my gifts this year and discovered the very things that I had added to my wish list on the Elfster app that our family uses. Or perhaps it’s because many of us have the means to go out and purchase what we really want – we don’t have to wait until Christmas and hope that we might receive it as a gift.

It’s January and we’ve been presented with the gift of a new year. I appreciate these built in opportunities for a clean slate and a fresh start; a new year, a new month, even a new day. God set the universe up so we receive the gift of a new day every 24 hours. There’s an old saying, no one knows for sure where it came from, but versions of it have been quoted by poets, authors, musicians, a president’s wife, and even Oogway, the tortoise in Kungfu Panda. The saying goes, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.” This is a cute play on words, but it speaks to the necessity of embracing each new day as a gift. Today is a gift from God! How do we open the gift of each new day that God gives us? Is it with a sense of anticipation and wonder like that of a child? Or have we experienced so many uneventful, unexciting, maybe even painful days that we don’t really expect anything good out of this new day that God has given us, so we “open” it as a jaded adult rather than an excited child. There are many reasons that can happen. Unfortunately, the attitude with which we go into a new day often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I wonder if this is one of those instances where Jesus would encourage us to become like little children.

If you are a pastor or a church leader who has experienced the trauma of days and days on end of COVID frustration and divisiveness in your church, maybe you’ve stopped looking forward to each new day. I can certainly understand that. I pray that 2022 can be a year of healing and restoration of hope. As we embark on a new year, I’d like to challenge you to open the gift of each new day with the same sense of anticipation and wonder that children display when they open their Christmas gifts. Who knows what great things God might have in store for us today?! Rather than burning all our strength and energy on worrying about what happened yesterday or worrying about what might or might not happen tomorrow, let’s savor the gift of today.