Friday... And make our efforts successful.

I am a grandpa and with that fact comes grandpa jokes. My kids and grandkids have heard them over and over and the jokes don't get any better.

One of them is, when I am using my debit card to buy something and when the word approval comes up on the screen I say, "I love that word, I need affirmation and I never get it when I use cash." I know, I know, that is dumb but I am a grandpa. But it also is true.

It really is. We all need affirmation, don't we?

The writer of Psalm 90 in the last verse, verse 17 (NLT) says, "And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful."

Now earlier he writes what many of us would write at the end of 2022. In verse 13 he says, "O Lord, come back to us! How long will you delay? Take pity on your servants!" Maybe that is what you are feeling and what you would pray at the end of this year. You may not feel you need affirmation, you need pity.

He goes on in verses 14-16, "Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives. Give us gladness in proportion to our former misery. Replace the evil years with good. Let your servants, see you work again; let our children see your glory." And that is a great prayer to pray at the beginning of 2023. It really is.

And then verse 17 brings it all together, "And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful." And that is what I want. I want approval over pity. I want gladness instead of misery. I want to see His glory. And again, I want His approval which in turn leads to making my efforts successful.

And if that is true for you, to then our prayer as we look toward this new year needs to be, "And may the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful. Yes, make our efforts successful." And may it be so! Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Wednesday... It didn't just happen.

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Todays Beginning

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