Theology Thursday 27 - New Year Mercies

“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.” – Lamentations 3:22-23

Even though I know that God’s compassions are new every morning, I don’t often live like that. Like so much of the rest of the world, I buy into the idea that I can only start something new at the New Year. January 1 is the only time when it’s appropriate to make a change, try to be better or do something different with my life. Instead of trusting in God’s compassion on a daily basis to make the changes necessary in my life, I only trust in that compassion on an annual basis.

Trusting in God’s compassion on an annual basis, though, only leads to broken resolutions and good intentions that run out of steam. If I really want to be different, if I really want to lose more weight, if I really want to get my finances in order, if I really want to blog more regularly, one dose of compassion at the beginning of the year isn’t enough to sustain me. I need God’s compassion daily; I need to sit in it and revel in it and be empowered by it.

Lamentations doesn’t say that God’s compassion is new every year; it says every day. It’s up to us to accept that compassion on a daily basis and allow it to transform us into the people that God created us to be.