Brett's New Day

Psalm 27:14 “Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”

Yesterday morning I saw one of Frederick’s friends that I had not seen in a very long time.

“How’s first grade Brett?”

“I have a very strict teacher.” He replied.

“Oh you do?” Allowing the reality behind that one simple statement from a 7-year-old boy sink in I asked, “Are you learning?”

With a tad more hope he said, “Slowly but surely.”

I couldn't have said it better myself.  Sometimes our lessons are hard, and they come in a way that might make us want to resist.  Slowly but surely, little by little God is sanctifying us; changing us; making us Holy as we move forward.  The best sort of change comes from hard situations.  From persevering through the most difficult seasons.  Learning from the less compassionate without it breaking our spirit means trusting God’s promises more and more.

Even a day on earth holds this lesson:  

When we go to sleep at night it’s dark.  When we wake up it’s a new day.  Just like that, right?  No, in reality it did not happen with a snap.  It happens over a night.  The sun has to set and night has to come.  In the darkness things are still, waiting, resting, hoping, enduring.  But even in the darkest of nights the moon gives hope that the sun has not vanished, it has not gone out and it is coming.  It tells us that a new day is not far off as it reflects the light.  The sun has to travel around the other side of the globe.  It moves steady and consistently. Slowly but surely.  It does not veer off it’s track.  As it moves all the way around a new day emerges.  First just a glow across the horizon and little by little the day becomes brighter and lighter.  Before we know it birds are singing and our eyes can see those once dark corners because of the light.

Brett’s face told me more than his words when he spoke about his stern teacher.  But like the moon reflecting the son’s light, his next words were hopeful.  Slowly but surely that sun is coming.

I want to respond like that, “I’m moving forward even though it’s a bit dark.”  Did he feel it like he said it?  I don’t know.  At mid-night I may not feel it as well.  But it’s the hope in God’s promises that brings in a new day.  When the light comes up over the herizon, there is no mistake that a new day has begun.

James 1:4 “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”