OK- Everybody up Rise and Shine It’s a new day. It’s Saturday. It’s the weekend. Up! Up! Up!
Today, I woke up and … well, and that’s a good thing. Right? Feet on the floor – I can walk. Eyes open wide – I can see. Warm house, hot water, clothes to wear, plans for the day, food to eat, COFFEE . . . I am blessed!
If I had a box to hold all my blessings and another box to hold all my aggravations, the blessing box would be bigger, lighter, and shine brighter than the tarnished box holding all the rejects. Sometimes at the end of a long, tedious day when circumstances were the wrong shape to fit in the blessing box, that tarnished box seems to overflow its capacity. Bring on the night – so we can have a new day!
So here’s a prescription to fill up the treasure box to overflowing and clamp the lid on that box of rejects. Begin today with right thinking and a prayer to get started with a treasure to put in the blessing box. Maybe back in the Old Testament, they had the right idea. Here’s what it says in 1st Chronicles 23:30 “They were also to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord. They were to do the same in the evening.” Let’s try that. Lord, this is a brand new day. All that stuff that happened yesterday is history. I have a vision for today and it doesn’t include annoyances from the past. The day ahead is unknown to me, but you, Lord, know all about it. Whatever happens, please guard my thoughts and make them honorable because I know every action, every word, and every attitude starts there. Please keep me focused on things that store up treasures in heaven. Be my shield and defense against the enemy of my soul who wants me to live in regret and defeat. It’s a new day, Lord. Be my everything so I can do what you want me to do today. Amen Isaiah 33:2 “Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress.”
I keep coming back to this verse in 2 Corinthians because I love the analogy of how treasures can be stored. We all have treasures, some of which are thoughts or memories. Others that are more tangible and can be held in our hands and seen with our eyes. We treasure our relationships. Treasures. 2 Corinthians 4:7 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
What will it take today to add to the treasure box and bury the reject box far from view? What does it take to truly live? Today there is nothing that God and I can’t do together – but I have to let Him lead while I follow. 1 Timothy 6:19 “In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” That takes faith, friends. And that’s what faith can do.
Because of Grace we Press On