Get ready for some weirdness. I have a crazy love for planners. I don't like google calendar; my life cannot be digitized. I want paper. New, clean, tabbed, and ready for a new year. I want to see the whole month at a glance and I want enough room each day to make my lists and plans.Even if I buy a new planner for the school year, I am itching to buy another in January for the actual new year.A new planner is like a little book of hope.  Even better it's like a huge redo. New beginnings are beautiful and I need beautiful. I need lots of redo's!As a year comes to a close, I get all reflective and introspective and sometimes find myself discouraged by my unmet goals and failed plans. I grieve the changes I didn't make and the fun I didn't have. I know, you don't want to hang out with me for New Year's Eve.There is something so wonderful about a new start. Wiping away the mistakes on the slate and writing life over again with new chalk and a fresh hope.Today I am thankful that despite my crazy obsession with new planners, God offers me a fresh start each day. I don't have to wait until January 1, 2017. I don't have to physically throw away my old planner. His mercies are new every day.

The faithful love of the Lord never ends!    His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness;    his mercies begin afresh each morning. Lamentations 3:22-23

I am challenged by this truth because I can be a record keeper and a grudge holder. I do not faithfully offer forgiveness and hope to those failing around me. I want the gift of a new start, but I often withhold mercy. In such a messy world full of imperfect people, we are all in need of great mercy. All of us long for forgiveness and change, so it only makes sense that we freely give it as well.

Jesus has not gotten tired of me yet. By that, I am both amazed and thankful. He faithfully pursues me and reshapes me so that I can more closely reflect his image. Day by day. Moment by moment.

I am praying today that you will receive the amazing mercy of Christ, his forgiveness for your messiness. We struggle to move past our mistakes, but God chooses to forget them. He's so good.