IT'S A BRAND NEW DAY

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here.

It's a new day, a new beginning, a fresh start.  Don't you just love the fact the fact that every day is a fresh start, or I should say it can be a fresh start.  Depending on your mood, your attitude and your thought life, everyday can start off in a great direction or a bitter direction.  Depending on if you dwell on all the past hurts and hangups, depending on if you choose to dwell on all the ways other people have hurt you, depending on whether or not you to forgive or not, depending on your chosen beliefs; all these things and so much more can determine whether you choose to embrace a new day with excitement or with dread.  I can honestly say I have always been a morning person.  I don't have to have a cup of coffee in order to wake up with a smile on my face.  Even when I was in high school I loved jumping out of bed to get ready for the day ahead.  I know I'm weird.  

I don't understand why I am the way I am but I look forward to every day.  It gives me a chance to see another sunrise, it gives me a chance to wipe the slate clean and start all over leaving the regrets of yesterday behind me.  I've learned to embrace my yesterdays and learn from them. Every night I ask God to forgive me for all my yesterdays that I cannot change.  I ask Him to teach me what I need to learn in order to move on.  I've learned the hard way that living with regrets, dwelling in the past and keeping a list of wrongs and hurts is exhausting and (to be very honest) dumb.

Why do you dwell in the past?  What good does it do to relive those moments that hurt you?  Why do you let the past define you?  Why are you allowing the past to wreck your future?  Listen I know people who have been raped, abused, beaten and molested.  I know people who have lost loved ones to suicide.  I know people who lost their parents at a young age.  I know people who have lost their homes, their jobs and so much more.  A majority of these people you wouldn't even know they were struggling with any of these things in their past because they have a new day and a new beginning.  They have come to realize that they can't change the past.  They've dealt with their past and mourned the past, but they've started a new day and a new beginning.

On the other side of the coin I know people who have gone through these things and they live their.  They keep a list in their mind of every wrong someone did to them.  Their hearts are filled with regrets and anger.  Their words spew out of their mouth like venom and their anger is obvious.  I know people who have embraced the past because it gives them a right to live a bitter and sad life.  Oh on the outside they may appear happy and plaster a fake smile on their face but inside their heart is hard.  I also know people who love to dwell in the past because it gives them an excuse to throw pity parties. (Trust me I was one of them.)  They have an excuse and a reason for everything.  Do you people like that?  Are you one of those people?  Listen I had to admit it and so do you. 

I remember long ago a family member was losing their home to foreclosure, the people who worked with him had no idea he was struggling.  Why?  How could they have not known what was going on?  He walked into work every day with a smile on his face.  He went around asking how everyone was doing and he went around doing the work he needed to do.  He didn't whine or complain, he didn't moan or groan, he didn't sulk and he never got angry.  People at work were stunned.  They had no idea what he was going through.  How could he appear so happy and normal with all that going on?  Jesus!

He trusted in his belief that God would work it all out for his good.  He looked at the loss of his home as a fresh start, a new beginning, a new day.  The old was gone and he realized he couldn't change it.  He learned a valuable lesson and he trusted in the One who created him.  The difference was obvious.  It was a choice that changed the course of his life forever and because he trusted in God, because he never complained, because he did not keep a list of wrongs done to him, because he admitted his mistakes...God blessed him with a new day and a fresh start. 

You see when you choose to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you receive a fresh start, you have a new beginning and a new day is dawning in your life.  Jesus gets rid of the old you, He forgives all your wrongs and wipes the slate clean.  You are new, born again, saved by grace and forgiven by His blood He shed on a cross in Calvary.  There is no hidden list of wrongs in a file cabinet up in heaven.  Jesus erased your files and deleted your past.  

It's a new day.  Forgive those who hurt you.  Let go of the past.  Let's start over fresh and new.