Clean White Boxes

Ahhhh.

The New Year.

I love the New Year.

I love taking the old calendar off the wall, putting it on the table next to the new calendar, grabbing several colors of Sharpie markers, and filling in the clean white boxes on the new calendar with birthdays and anniversaries and the handful of activities that are already scheduled. 

It always looks so fresh and new.

So colorfully exciting.

So full of grace and mercy.

Clean white boxes with no black Sharpie lines running through my mistakes.

Yet.

Oh, it will happen.  

There will end up being black lines and imperfect handwriting.

There will be times when I over-schedule and double-book.
There will be times when I grab the red marker rather than the blue one.

There will be times when I look at my calendar and the word "Simplify" that hangs over it and want to cry.

But then I remember...
"The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning."  (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Oh, what good news that is!

Enjoying the freshness and mercy of a New Year,