Isaiah 30:18a Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.

Have you ever made a mess of things? I have, too many times to count! Due to the confines of our human condition, we often contribute to the world in a way that reeks of our humanity rather than the godliness we are seeking to foster within.

Sometimes our “mess ups” are small storms that quickly pass—losing our temper with our spouse or children, finding ourselves backed into a corner and choosing to lie rather than be truthful, sharing something we should have kept in confidence, letting a friend down. At other times, our mess-ups change the course of our lives or the lives of the ones we love forever.

Do you sometimes wonder if you have missed God’s very best for you, that you are so off track you can never recover?

I often encounter the writings of Dominican priest, Simon Tugwell, in my morning devotions. Here is a quote I read this week:

“God’s providence means that wherever we have got to, whatever we have done, that is precisely where the road to heaven begins. However many cues we have missed, however many wrong turnings we have taken, however unnecessarily we may have complicated our journey, the road still beckons and the Lord still ‘waits to be gracious’ to us.”

What good news! God has a new best for us that begins precisely where we are right now. We still must acknowledge our sins and learn from them, but we are in no way hidden from God’s love and blessing.

Lamentations 3:22-23 reassures us, “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.”

For this, I am grateful!

Dear Lord, how grateful we are for your faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see. Help me choose the better path more often than not, but when I fail, be quick to redirect my path and give me new light for the journey. In the gracious name of Christ, I pray. Amen.

Blessings,

Rev. Laura