Each and every day

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."  --Lamentations 3:22-23

       Whatever you will encounter tomorrow morning, you get a fresh start.  For some of us, it will really be a brand new start for a new school year.  Even if that's not true for you and your year is already underway, tomorrow morning can bring a new start.  Our God is all about second chances.  His love and compassion DO NOT fail.  What is the opposite of failure?  Some of my favorites from Thesaurus.com are success, improvement, accomplishment, plenty, enough, benefit, triumph, and blessing.  Those words can be used to describe God's love and compassion for us.  They do not fail, so they are enough for us.  They do not fail, so they bring us triumph and blessings.  They do not fail to show up for us each and every day.  These gifts are available to us each new morning, each new moment.

       I have a feeling that this week will bring a mix of both successes and failures for me.  That's just kind of how it works as a human being.  But what if I can keep my eyes on the truth that there is One who does not fail to show up to love me each and every day?  That's great faithfulness.  The other part of the promise there is that this great and faithful love keeps us from being consumed.  I relate this idea closely with being overwhelmed.  This is a very real feeling for people in our profession and I'm sure quickly brings mental images to mind.  In my "overwhelmed" mental image, I'm standing in one corner of my classroom, staring at all of the things that need to be organized, planned, and graded.  I am frozen by the knowledge that my forty-minute prep will not even put a dent in this to-do list.  (I'm pretty sure my heart rate sped up a little as I typed that.)  Maybe this is a somewhat petty, insignificant problem compared to the stressors of many people in our world or the things that might have "consumed" the first readers of Lamentations.  Maybe God's love still covers me and these stressors!  If I believe in the faithfulness of His daily love and compassion, I can be assured that whatever seems overwhelming or insurmountable, does not have the ability to consume me.

       In teaching, there are often seasons where we simply have to take things one day at a time.  Thankfully, our God also takes us one day at a time, providing second chances, love, compassion, and a way out from under what overwhelms us.