mercies-fresh-each-morning

Got to Begin (Again), Billy Joel, Lamentations and New Beginnings

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There’s the biblical “start again” – and then there’s the BIlly Joel “Got to Begin (again)” – and I can hear and see from the newish Billy Joel documentary and accompanying album “And So It Goes”, over 150 songs, it’s clear that Billy Joel stated again and again! (The documentary is on HBO)

Not just reinventing ourselves because that is a God-worth task, but at least knowing the newness in each day. Of course, God knows about us IN HIM – about us in the Lord: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

If we hold onto the new day and the new us and the newness of the Lord in His mercies each morning – remembering EACH morning to begin again – it will give us a new start and also a new outlook. Like the snow pack that melts a little each day and the longer hours for the sunshine, we approach seeing old days in new light.

And when the going is tough – well – not just the tough get going but the devoted get LOOKING at the Lord.

Prophet Jeremiah was lamenting the situation with the Babylonians and he wrote in Lamentations 3:55-57 of how the Lord helped him: I called on Your name, O Lord, From the lowest pit. You have heard my voice: “Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help.” You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, “Do not fear!”

Jeremiah who knows that the Lord wil deliver us – deliver him – said “GREAT IS YOUR FAITHFULNESS!!!  

Lamentations 3:22-31: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly For the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear The yoke in his youth. Let him sit alone and keep silent, Because God has laid it on him; Let him put his mouth in the dust – There may yet be hope. Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, And be full of reproach. For the Lord will not cast off forever. And so it goes – let us remember to look to the Lord for His Mercies fresh every morning – and moment by moment known that He is building us up – strengthening us – and showing us how endurance is needed – life is a marathon not a sprint – keep keeping on!

AMEN

Whole album – search releases on you tube

OR https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4GKbOKCQRU15FNZJ5iqIEaAFxs1bKUqf&si=TXb25cgGuTTtvEmr

Got to Begin Again 

“That I’ve got to begin again. Though I don’t know how to start. Yes, I’ve got to begin again, and it’s hard” Billy Joel

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JAMES 1 NKJV

Greeting to the Twelve Tribes
James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

Profiting from Trials
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

The Perspective of Rich and Poor
Let the lowly brother glory in his exaltation, but the rich in his humiliation, because as a flower of the field he will pass away. For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits.

Loving God Under Trials
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.

Qualities Needed in Trials
So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Doers—Not Hearers Only
Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Picture Fruitfulness in Us, Psalms, Lamentations, Romans, and Ecclesiastes

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Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

It may be early, but it’s summer and early morning we (the cat and I) can go outside. My peas and strawberry plants are reaching fruition in fruiting and the birds are chirping, the cat is happier outside. It is not too buggy yet, I wrapped up with an old sheet for a blanket for protection anyway. Life is good within the small slice of the 6am morning before time marches on. 

The cardinal chirping was clear, there are distinct calls for each bird, was it warning or song? (Many think the cardinals are visits from our family members – well they would be warning us too as well as encouraging us to keep moving forward and be fruitful. Truly the warnings and encouragements of life are to keep moving forward always anyway…)

There are dangers in the world, for birds yes, and for us too. The best warning is to guard against the drain of our fruitfulness, for stresses and unknowns come but we are to stay solid upon the Rock of the Lord’s support and the fertile ground of His enrichment. We need to always grow and grow in all ways – especially in Patience and in Piety. There are times that things work out and other times we have “what ifs?”… and yet each morning is reset as new, there is a time to just pause and pray. This is the time to stop racing thoughts, just work, praise, pray, play, and participate in life. There is a season for everything, like Ecclesiastes 3 recounts – and we are to ask the Lord to help us “number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” – which to me means to strike when the iron is hot, and change directions when it is not!

Proverbs 19:20-121 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days. There are many plans in a man’s heart, Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand. 

After my fruitful container garden (may not look pretty but it is pretty secured against the groundhog and rabbits) is harvested from strawberries and peas – the early season is done, in a couple of weeks, maybe the tomatoes will be planted, got to still buy those, and maybe my sitting outside will be different again. Life and seasons change quickly. But pray the sun still rises and mornings still come with new mercies and more and different fruitfulness. 

These garden fruits take time to develop and within us, if we picture fruitfulness – we can gain it – by wisdom – and ask for the Lord to lay HIS Fruit upon us for His usefulness of our work for HIM (and ourselves). The fruits of the Spirit (Romans 12) are: JOY, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control. These are all to be applied and accepted with LOVE. That is the harvest of the Lord in us.

Amen 

Solomon laments not always understanding life and surely observes life in Ecclesiastes 3 – but especially he knows that God is in charge – and knows there is a time for everything:

Ecclesiastes 3 NIV

A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

Whatever is has already been,
    and what will be has been before;
    and God will call the past to account.

And I saw something else under the sun:
In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,
    in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

I said to myself, “God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked,
for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed.”

I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

So I saw that there is nothing better for a person than to enjoy their work, because that is their lot. For who can bring them to see what will happen after them?