A New Day

The page turns…
A new day,
A new beginning
To praise my Lord,
To worship,
To study His Word,
To live a life
Pleasing to Him.
What shall I do
With this blank page,
This new beginning?

Will I continue to live
Bound to the ways of the past?
Or will I allow the Holy Spirit
To lead me in new paths
And experience new freedom?
Will I lay aside
The chains of the past?
Or will I walk in the freedom
And fullness He desires
To give me?
Will I accept His mercy,
His pardon, for past failures
Or will I continue
To beat myself up
For failing?

I do not
And cannot expect
Perfection
From myself.
For in my strength,
I will always fail.
Yet His strength is available
To me
Daily,
If I will but choose
To accept and walk in it.

As the calendar turns
To a new year,
I am encouraged to make
A new start,
And somehow it seems
More likely
I can – by His strength –
Succeed this time.

I accept and receive
A new day
And a new challenge –
To walk in freedom
And fullness
By His Spirit
So that I may experience
What He desires for me.
His mercies are new
Every morning.
All I must do
Is reach out and
Receive it
And I may have
Whatever He desires
This day
For me.
– Carolyn S. Smith