Don’t you just love a new notebook? The fresh pages are enticing. When school starts back after a long free, active, and hot summer, the structure of school calls us to get organized. Even when you aren’t in school anymore, it’s refreshing just to see the school supplies start to come out in the stores. They draw me into a dream of newness. A dream of life without smudges from poor erasers and crossed out words or doodles in the margins. The pages are crisp without earmarks.

A fresh start.

It isn’t often we get that in life, but the dream is still there, isn’t it? The best laid plans for the day, month, and year can get muddled with unexpected shifts in priorities and disappointments. I know my world has been tilted off its axis more than once this year. It’s enough to make you dizzy. It can take your breath away.

Today, teachers use white boards and markers. Some boards, like the one I use at home, get stained and or the marker dries, and the residue doesn’t clean off well. As a child, I found it a pleasure to clean the chalkboards with a wet towel. I loved the bright black and fresh, clean look. But I didn’t care much for cleaning the erasers. You had to bang them together outside where it powdered the grass, your shoes, arms, and legs and your hair with chalk dust. It took my breath away.

As we start a new school year, let’s take advantage of a new, fresh page. Take a deep cleansing breath and let go of past failures and disappointments. Our own and those of others who’ve hurt or disappointed us.

God’s forgiveness and mercy are never changing, always available, and provide a clean slate like the old, washed chalkboards in my elementary school. Thankfully, God cleans the boards and erasers without leaving any residue behind.

Wherever you are, you are at the right place when you come to my website and read my blog. Come on back and share a slice of life with me.