DEVOTION: A Fresh Start

"We don't evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don't look at the Master that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and God, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with love, giving the world a fresh start."

O God... it seems so much easier to refinish furniture... redo floors... restart a school year... begin a new season... start all over again... but why is it so hard to do that inside ourselves and in relationship to those we love.  I want to begin new every morning with plenty of hope and love... with energetic peace and grace.  I get so bogged down in the old ways... the old days... the past ... the mistakes and the flawed... that I can't see a fresh start at the break of the day in myself or in others.  Forgive me for continually judging today by yesterday.  Open my heart, mind, body and spirit to a bright and brisk beginning.... Prepare me to receive and rise up today to a fresh start.