Beautifully Wrapped

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19

As I have previously written, our little ‘sisterhood of traveling pants’ has been hit hard over the last month or two with medical challenges, family illnesses and passings of loved ones. We have a group text going most of the time, sometimes with funny gifs, other times with good news, but also with updates on the lives of our families. One of our precious friends is in the trenches with both elderly parents recovering from Covid along with her dad’s pre-existing medical challenge. She and her siblings risked getting the virus to be caregivers for them and it’s been a dicey couple of weeks. With each update she always ends the text with five simple words…One day at a time. She doesn’t throw this out like some shallow platitude but lives faithfully within its mantra.

This morning I began thinking about that phrase and I was drawn to creation. God had a perfect order when He began conducting the symphony of placing the universe on its foundation. The first thing He created was light which was in Him. Now light could have been attained without the sun because Genesis clearly states there was light first, followed by His creation of the sun. But I believe that God knew we would need something more than the constant light. God is all-knowing so I’m confident He knew the fall of mankind would follow creation…and yet He still created. He knew that through the fall sin and sickness would be a part of your life and my life…and yet He still created. In His great love, instead of just creating light that was a blessing in itself, He created its source, the sun. He assigned the sun to disappear at the end of each day. He replaced it with a lesser light to lull us into sleep, into rest, and into peace. The sovereign Creator loves us so much He wanted to comfort our hearts with a beautiful sunrise each morning...something new. He layered the beauty with the warmth and gave it a timeframe to hang in the sky which brings me to our phrase…one day at a time.

One day at a time means when we close our eyes on yesterday, we tuck in its circumstances never to be exactly lived again. One day at a time means the only thing that we will allow into the next day is hope, faith, and gratitude. One day at a time means that we open our eyes to the array of possibilities that just might be better than the day before. One day at a time means we awake in the early hours of the dark, anticipating and hopeful of the beautiful sunrise of both the sun and our situation. One day at a time means every 24 hours God is visibly doing a new thing!

As the sun springs up, will we perceive it? Will we feel the warmth of hope beaming down on our hearts? Will we take the time to count the colors before we count our concerns? Will we give God our thankfulness that each day radiates down with new blessings and our confidence that God is in complete control? Every sunrise is a gift from God packaged in beautiful wrap and ribbons. May we all open the newness of each day and keep our hearts anchored on tomorrow’s sunrise.