New Every Morning

Lamentations 3:21-23 -- "Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."

image: labellehibou.com

Sunshine illuminates the Spanish Moss hanging on the big oak tree in my front yard and a gentle breeze catches the gray curly tendrils causing them to sway - like long hair moving in the wind.  Big fat water droplets hanging precariously from the heavy stalks on my Bird of Paradise shine brightly like Christmas tree lights - twinkling and winking each time they catch the sunny rays of light from our Florida sunshine. We've had more than a week strait of nothing but cold drizzly rain. It's beautiful to see the sun this morning. I can open the windows wide and let the cats out on the porch to roll around on the cool concrete as they take in the sounds of the forest just beyond our yard. 

It doesn't rain forever - but I assure you that we Sunshine Staters were beginning to wonder if it would. With the new morning on this happy Friday comes the waking up of many a Saint Johns residents who found themselves feeling as gray as the winter skies. There's a joy in the footsteps of my neighbors as they walk their dogs. And the kids that speed by on their bikes on the way to school are laughing so loudly that I can hear them from my bedroom. It's wonderful. What a difference a little sunshine makes!

I can't lie, sometimes I feel as if green sticky moss has began to grow over the windows of my heart and mind - just like it grows on the porch floor due to all the rain. Sometimes everyday life gets so much rain that I find myself clambering to keep up. It's a battle with the broom and dustpan - just to clear the cobwebs out of my head or shew the fog from behind my eyes. It's as if that green goo will take over and grow over everything from the screen door on the back porch to the glass on the windows by the front door. 

Which makes these verses in Lamentations even more meaningful. The author of this book describes a depressed spirit. In the verses prior to 21-23 of chapter 3 we see a gloomy soul. He [most likely Jeremiah] says that he's been deprived of peace and that's he's forgotten what prosperity is. He says his splendor is all gone.

I think it's safe to say that at one point or another we all kind of feel that way. We all have green sticky moss with which to contend. The wonderful and beautiful thing is we KNOW we have hope in or Lord. Just like the author of Lamentations we can call to mind that the love of our Lord  is great and endures forever - and so we have sunshine popping through the gray.  Like the good fellow citizens of Saint Johns this morning - we know that the rain won't last forever. And when that beautiful warm sunshine comes out again - we relish in the joy of it.

We smile - because we know that the compassions of our Lord are new every single morning.