Mug Monday and Newness

Not the greatest picture, my good camera was in the car.

This mug was a gift from my friend Sherri for my 21st birthday.  It came in a package with other fun things like a mixed CD she put together and a VT shot glass, both of which I still have.  She did a great job picking it out because it is very "me" with all the purple and polka dots.  This mug has come to be my hot chocolate mug.  Even though I do love coffee, and drink it almost every morning, I usually only drink one standard sized mug of coffee.  When I drink hot chocolate however, I want a lot of it!  Since this mug is bigger than most, I've always used this mug and this mug alone to drink hot chocolate.  Which means this mug has spent a fair amount of wintery, weekend nights cuddled up with me in a blanket watching movies, or late, late nights giving me my sweet fix as I struggled to stay awake while writing a paper or something.

It has slowly been warming up and feeling like spring, but now it's finally starting to look like spring.  Everything is greener and many of the trees and bushes have colorful little buds on them.  The flowers are blooming and the sky is bright blue.  It is spring and everything is new.  The newness of spring has never struck me or impacted me before, but it sure has this year.  March was a hard month for me, and it was my own fault.  I got so wrapped up in the busyness of it that I let my personal time with the Lord slip away.  I was continuing to "pour out" even though I had nothing to pour.  I was soon running on empty and found myself burnt out and in a constant bad mood, at least internally.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   As soon as April 1st hit, it was as if I could just sign in relief.  I knew the rest of the semester would be full, but the constant "go, go, go" of March was behind us.  I could return to my schedules and routines, and my mornings with the Lord were so much easier to carry out.  This new season was just the boost I needed to get back on track and finish out well.  As I was thinking about "new" things today, different verses kept popping into my heard, and this one really stuck with me:

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

Regardless of how the day or night before went, God's mercy and love and compassion are new every morning.  Not just left over from the day before, but new!  I am so thankful for this truth!

Shorts and flip flops and ultimate frisbee!