This week signals a very special time, my childhood favourite time of the year. It is a time of new beginnings and fresh starts, despite the year already being one month old.

You see, I have a confession to make … I LOVE stationery. I especially LOVE new exercise books and journals and books of blank pages ready to receive my thoughts, ideas and doodlings.

I remember as a child, at the beginning of the new school year being armed with a whole swag of fresh, clean, unblemished exercise books and I would be delirious with the promise of unlimited potential that lay ahead.

I would inevitably strike a problem, however. I would be reticent to want to start writing in my nice, new books as I didn’t want to make a mistake in them and have some ugly crossing out make my clean page look messy.

It did not seem to matter how hard I tried, or how neatly I wrote, invariably there would be something that needed correction and that glorious moment of a fresh, clean start burst, like a bubble popping when it touches the ground.

Now, as an adult, I ponder the similarity to this situation and life.  Are there times when I am loathe to start something fresh because of fear of mucking up somehow?  Do I hold back from beginning anything because I am worried it won’t turn out perfect?  Or how about when I look back over my day, my week, my month and see how many times I have done things that needed correction and my fresh start looks less than immaculate?

Fortunately for each of us, God allows fresh starts, and what is even better – He doesn’t make us wait to the start of the school year, or when we have filled our old exercise book and need to start a new one to offer this new beginning.

In a small book in the Old Testament we find these beautiful verses: “The Lord loves us very much. So we haven’t been completely destroyed. His loving concern never fails. His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are!” (Lamenatations 3:22-23 NIRV) For me, that like being offered a brand new book to use each brand new day.

My prayer is that you will fill your new book with pages of fresh creativity and blessings today, and in the days to come.

Be blessed.