A New Beginning~ Rachel Melillo

I love starting new journals. Something about the fresh, never-been-tainted pages hits me and gives me an extra dose of joy. To me, the start of a new journal is a new beginning—it's God's reminder to me that His grace and mercies are new each morning. When I flip a page, it's clean and fresh; it's a new beginning.

As I page through my old journals, I note the variety of colors and emotion painted on the pages—tear drops smearing ink, sketches and doodles, brightly colored pens scripting the word “Yay!!!!!!!” in large capital letters. On my present journals, many of the same emotions are written in the used pages, but on the next page there's always a fresh start. A perfectly white, clean page.

Our lives aren't pretty. I've had my fair-share of disappointments and heartache. But at the beginning of the day, I've got to acknowledge that there's nothing that I can do about yesterday. I can't change the past. In Philippians 3, Paul offers the advice, “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” There's nothing we can do about yesterday; it's over. Today is all we can change, and what we do today can change what happens tomorrow.

We've just entered a New Year. It's another new beginning. And with new beginnings comes the opportunity to make resolutions. This year, I'm going to base my New Year's resolution off Philippians 3:13-14 (quoted above). This year, I'm going to make my resolution to focus on what's going to happen today, not dwelling on what happened yesterday.

Did you know that Rachel's favorite time of the day is sunrise because it reminds her of God's new mercies?!