The first day

When I was a kid, I had a puffy sticker on my record player (I am so OLD!!!).  The sticker showed a chick just breaking out of its shell, and it said, "This is the first day of the rest of your life."  I remember spending a lot of time pondering what that meant.  It seemed like a deep thought to my childish mind, and I couldn't quite grasp it.  I'm still thinking about it.  I think of Lamentations 3:22-23 that says God's mercies are new every morning. And Matt Maher's song "Hold Us Together" provides the soundtrack while I'm mulling it over. 

Yesterday was a bad day with the kids.  I was disappointed and discouraged by their attitudes, bad choices, and behavior.  I decided that all my years of teaching and training had failed, so I was going to give up on them and let them do whatever they want. That was my state of mind when I went to bed.

This morning I read Jeremiah 23:2:  "Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction."  I was convicted that I can't desert my little flock.  I wrote down what I want to say to them as I meet with them individually when they wake up, and I made a plan for getting us all back on track. THIS is the first day of the rest of our lives.