It’s a Brand New Day

Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may never come, but this day is the day we have an opportunity to practice recognizing God’s blessings in everything – even in the things we don’t especially like! It’s a big deal to wake up to a new day, because yesterday was the very last day on this earth for many.

It’s a brand new day with potential and possibilities! It’s also a brand new day to posture ourselves with a “can-do-anything, all-is-well” mindset. At the beginning of each day, we step into the world and, if we’re intentional, we’ll avoid the news and the bickering and the sensational soundbites. That will be a good thing. We can be on purpose in avoiding the yuck of this world so that we are clear-headed and clear-hearted.

It’s a brand new day. We are still here, and God has a reason for it! We keep reminding my almost 98-year-old mother-in-law of that when she says: "I'm done. Take me home, Lord!" We know there's a reason for her life AND yours and mine. Life is a matter of perspective. No blessing is too small or unimportant. And even if this day comes with some unwelcome surprises, we remember God has a master plan in place….and, if we’ll look, we’ll even see the blessings tucked in-between those surprises. We take the good with the bad, and God is gracious to give us both as a reminder that every good and perfect thing starts with Him. (James 1:17)

Take heart, my friends. It’s a brand new day and we can lift our hearts in praise and thanksgiving for it. All is well. Let’s take deep breaths…because we can. We aren’t on ventilators. We aren’t bed-fast. We aren’t in prison. We aren’t on a street begging for bread. We aren't a lost cause.

So what can we do well today? We can do our part. We can fight the good fight. We can work for justice and freedom. We can offer grace to those who need God’s grace and He can use us to give it to them. Let’s move about with mercy and understanding and even though folks can’t see us doing it through our masks – let’s SMILE. That smile radiates in our eyes that twinkle with God’s love. Folks will “eye” it. Let’s be kind. Let’s love.

It’s a brand new day. Clean slate. Let’s make new memories, celebrate life and all its many thrills – after all, this is the last day we have today.

Remembering Yesterday and Yester-Years

It’s early Sunday Morning, Father’s Day, and I’m taking in the sound of the melodious rainfall. I look out my back window and my eyes go right to that yellow rose bush being watered from heaven. Don’t tell me otherwise! Sure, I know there’s scientific reasons for rains, but on this day, Father’s Day, I’m imagining my “love” reminding me he remembers – and so do I.

That little yellow rose bush has fully bloomed twice this season already, and here it goes again. Of course, it reminds me of the man of my dreams and my reality – my sweet husband and the father of my two children, the grandfather of my seven grandchildren. Oh, how blessed we were to have known and loved this man. Our wedding included yellow roses, every home we ever lived in (even the two homes since his passing on) has had a yellow rose bush planted there. When my babies were born, yellow roses were at my bedside. So, of course, the rain and the yellow roses compounded my awareness that he isn’t here, but, oh, yes, he is. He lives so big in our hearts.

Just a memory to spark so much gratitude for those little things in my life, that on a day like this, I can rejoice and be glad and not sad. Oh, how I would love for him to still be here with me enjoying our family together. He’s not – but I am. I’m not done imparting the best of me, the best of us, to these I love.

My crew in Austin sent me photos of their fun times and this crew in Frisco, celebrated with huevos rancheros for breakfast, online church, Hutchins Barbeque for lunch, piano serenades from Payton, and great fun playing the fishing game that Papa gave Payton 13 years ago. What a day! Yes, we would have rather been real fishing, but since we couldn’t, the game brought back some of the best memories.

I’ve loved the photos many of you, my social media friends, posted of their dads and husbands – those who passed on, those still alive and well, and even those who have a baby “still cookin' in the oven”. I know your journey and my journey may be completely different, but if we'll all practice gratitude and watch for all the sweet kisses from heaven like I did when I heard the rain and saw those yellow roses, you, too, will see the beauty all around you. You'll laugh with children, you'll start being a light to others, and you might even dance in the rain. It's been raining a lot lately, so why not put on those dancing shoes -- and DANCE?
“You have turned my mourning into dancing; you took off my sackcloth and clothed me with a garment of joy.” Psalm 30:11

Hope Brings a Bigger, Bolder, Brighter Future

I hope your yesterday goes well. If I said that to you, you’d be thinking Donna has lost it! It’s silly to hope someone’s YESTERDAY goes well because HOPE doesn’t live in the past. Hope is something based on great expectations for our future.
We can look backward and reminisce the ups and downs, but we can’t HOPE in the past. Even hoping that Uncle Joe included us as a beneficiary is still HOPING in the past.

We can’t change yesterday. We can’t hope in yesterday. But, we can HOPE for today and for tomorrow to be filled with many wins, many victories, many remarkable interceptions of blessings. We can hope our marriages are stronger and we are more in love than ever OR we can even hope for marriage. Period. We can hope for a clean bill of health. We can hope for being able to conceive a baby. We can hope for a new home or car. We can hope our children do well in school.

Hoping is ALWAYS “the great expectation that something good is about to happen” now, in a minute, in this day and tomorrow. It does no good to look backward and HOPE our past gets better. I am excited and hopeful for this 2019 to turn into the greatest year of bringing people into the Kingdom of God. I am excited and hopeful for love to abound in our homes, our cities and our country. I am hopeful that the tide turns for respect for life from conception to the grave. I am hopeful that America WILL be great again in the eyes of its citizens and around the world.

Doesn’t that feel so good? I mean – being hopeful for today and tomorrow. We don’t know what tomorrow holds but we know that God holds tomorrow and He isn’t a bit surprised by His kids showing out. I’m sure He shakes His sovereign head and with amusement often says to His Son Who sits at His right hand and says “What in the world are they thinking?” In all seriousness, He’s got the whole wide world in His hands, so why should we worry or fret. Let’s just keep HOPING and PRAYING for His will being done on earth as it is in heaven!

Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”