The yellow buses are on the road.  The kids are up early and waiting on the corner.  Stores have sold notebooks, pens, and bookbags.  Teachers have readied classrooms with new bulletin boards.  The days are still hot and humid, but school has begun.

Children are happy to see their friends again.  They may be welcomed by a new teacher who seems kind. Workbooks are not dog-eared, each page clean and new.  Having that summer break is a great help to students of all ages.  The past year has faded away, and the new year is a fresh start. 

I sometimes wish that life was like that.  I could use a good break in all that life holds, and then a fresh start with blank pages in a new notebook.  It doesn’t work that way though, does it.  Even if we take a little vacation, we come back to the same aches, pains, sorrows, and troubles that we left behind.  Our “to do” pile still covers the desk.  The calendar is fuller than ever with medical appointments.  Prescriptions need refilling. (Even the ironing didn’t leave.)

How can we find that feeling of a “fresh start?”  The Psalmist had some good ideas about awakening to a new day, to avoid feeling encumbered by yesterday. 

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Psalm 118:24

“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you.  Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.”  Psalm 143:8

Lord, let me experience your love anew at the dawn of each morning.  Let me be strengthened as I awake, knowing that you will show me where to walk this day.  The tasks might be familiar, but with your peace and strength renewed in me, they will not seem so burdensome. 

Your love is unconditional and it comes to us each day anew.

Judy