Amy Kelley, Not Bossy Just Helpful

Lamentations 2:21-24 (CEB)

I call all this to mind—therefore, I will wait.

22 Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!

23 They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

24 I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.

 

Reflection:

How many of us are grateful for alarm clocks? Or better yet, how many of us are grateful for that snooze button? I have always been a morning person. My Hubble Bubble (husband), Ross, is not. Not even close. My singing jingles, sipping coffee and wanting to have conversations tends to annoy him a little. However, my “night owl” tolerates it because he knows what mornings mean to me. Mornings are a fresh start, a new slate.

 

We often go to bed replaying conversations in our head or counting missteps and mistakes from the day. Maybe we experience regret or guilt for that moment we snapped at our child, talked negatively about a coworker, or just flat out skipped an opportunity to encourage someone with the love of Christ. We all know that we are imperfect creatures that fall short of what God wants for us.

 

Here’s the good news fellow humans: Joy comes in the morning! As scripture says here in our Lamentations scripture, God’s grace and compassion for his creation is renewed every morning. Should we acknowledge our wrongdoings? Yes, that is part of repentance. We lay those at God’s feet as we lay our heads on the pillow. When that alarm clock goes off, know that you have been given another chance to share the love of God through your words, intentions, and actions. Calculate your age x 365. That number is the least number of chances you’ve been given by God to get it right. And that doesn’t include chances throughout the day! God is the God of second, third, fourth, fifth chances. Have a good and grateful morning!

 

Prayer:

God of all the chances,

Thank you for not giving up on me, on your people. We sometimes just get it wrong. Help us to lay our sins at your feet at night, to rest in You and to wake up grateful for the clean slate you give us when that alarm clock goes off. You are the God of Grace and God of Glory. We love You. Amen.