September 9, 2023

Good day, dear friends,

As you may have already discovered, I hit the wrong timing button for tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) reflection. So you have two reflections in your mailbox early today. Make sure you’re reading the one you want today and tomorrow. Sorry about that!

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While I have you here for a minute, I wanted to let you know that Lavish Mercy passed a half million views last week. Also last week, I posted my 2000th reflection. Thanks so much to all of you for your support over these five years of Lavish Mercy. As a little “Thank You”, here’s a re-post of a September reflection for this beautiful Saturday.

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Beautiful September

Being a long-ago teacher, I have always loved September.  It is the sense of new beginning that accompanies these crisp, blue and golden days. 

Remember the fresh batch of school supplies you got every year: 

• that marble copybook that invited you to a heightened level of neatness (perhaps never achieved !)? 
• that perfectly compact and complete pencil box with the little sharpener on the end, promising you clear and accurate answers?
• that un-smudged and malleable soap eraser that would redeem you from any mistake? 
• and that wonderful box of fresh crayons, each standing at attention, ready to translate your genius into a rainbow of creativity?

What a gift it is in life to be given the opportunity for a new beginning.  Every one of us has grown richer in our hearts by both giving and receiving these opportunities.  Every act of inclusion, forgiveness, encouragement, mentoring and graciousness we have given or received has brought a new dawn to our spirits. 

We see so much violence, hatred and meanness in our world. We all mourn its ugly reappearance unrelentingly in the evening news, especially the lives lost of those who hungered for peace. But we must never allow ourselves to be poisoned or diminished by evil. Good will always overcome evil.

How wise it was of the Universal Spirit to give us both day and night.  Their dance of light and dark is a daily reminder to us that with the evening comes refreshment and with the morning renewed joy.  Every day, the Great Hand of Mercy reaches down into our darkness and lifts us up into the drenching light of hope. Do we ever take a moment to let ourselves be awed by that gift? 

Every day is a new box of crayons!  Every day, we can give and receive the chance to start fresh!  How do I want to color my world differently today?  What do I want to outline more clearly in my life?  What gaps in my life are longing to be filled in with the rainbow of my creativity, courage and love? How will I blend the shades of peace into the world around me?

A beautiful verse from the Hebrew Scriptures puts it this way:  

God’s mercies are renewed each morning, 
so great is His faithfulness.

Let yourself bask in that promise, especially in this golden September. It will renew your hope and strength.

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Music: by the way, September is Classical Music Month! Here’s one of my favorites.