Proverbs 4:23-27,  Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.  Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.  Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you.  Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.  Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

Every day can be a fresh start, a chance to right wrongs, to make the choice to make a new beginning.  We have choices to make every day that can affect generations to come.  What will you do with today?

“Guard your heart” is not just referring to relationships, although that is very important, it’s also referring to what you are allowing in.  As it says in Matthew 15:19, “for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”  What you choose to feed your mind will affect what is in your heart and what comes out of your mouth, and what you do.  Choose wisely.

What will you do with today when it comes to how you treat the people around you?  You have a choice and we will each answer for how we treat others.  God notices it all.  Don’t be that woman who has to treat others in such a way that you feel they are beneath you or that you control them.  Someone once told me, “you train people how to treat you”, that concept is a bit warped.  While it may be true on some levels, I believe as Christians we need to train ourselves how to treat others!  There are some people that no matter what you say or do, they are not going to “treat you with the respect you deserve” so I don’t think God would have us wasting our time trying to train them to treat us right, it may be time to just let them go if they can’t treat you with respect.  If you have someone who is treating you poorly that you can’t get away from then fill your heart and mind with who God says you are so you can be encouraged by Him.  What other people say and do does not define who you are.  When someone comes to confide in you, you also have a choice; will you listen and pray or will you judge and try to fix them or correct them?  Allow God to reveal what needs to be done, listen don’t judge, and then pray for them.  You don’t know the whole story, ever, so you are not in a position to judge the situation.  If you struggle in any of these areas ask God to help you and to teach you what may need to change so you can be a light to others in this dark, crazy world.  

Now, what choice will you make when it comes to what you will actually do?  Is there something, a dream, or a task that God has put in your heart that you have been putting off?  Why not start today?  Ask God, of course for His timing, but don’t put it off if God is impressing you to get going!  Get excited and ask Him to lead you into all that He is calling you to do, whether it is something big or small is there something you can do to get started today?  Is there something that you are putting off that you just need to get behind you so you can move forward?  Ask God for the strength to get it done!

Today, and every day is a new day, fresh with no mistakes in it so take advantage of that.  You don’t have to wait for a new year, you can start today in order to create a new tomorrow.  Start with a simple change and ask God to lead you into all He created you to be, knowing that truly His best is yet to come!

Quote:  “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson