What difference does a day make? Is it important in the grand scheme of things? Of course, it is. We all know that things can turn from bad to good in the course of a day, or from good to bad. We can find ourselves with more. We can find ourselves with less. We can gain it all or lose it all. We can be on top of the world or at our lowest point. A day can be an utter tragedy or a total victory.

A day can be something we want to remember forever, or something we want to forget forever. We can experience our greatest pride or our deepest shame, our highest joy or our deepest sorrow. We can have it all together, or we can have zero control. A day can be full of extremes and polar opposites, or it can be completely mundane. But each day is important. Each moment of each day is important because every decision we make determines who we are and the course of the rest of the day. We have choices to make about our time: whether we will squander it, save it, spend it, share it, savor it, or separate ourselves from it.

We talk about doing things tomorrow: I will start my diet tomorrow. I will talk to my child in a better way tomorrow. I will start that project tomorrow. I will begin my new year’s resolutions in the new year. But there is no need to wait until tomorrow to change. The change can begin now. Even if we are at the mercy of the clock or the calendar, change can begin in our minds, our attitudes, our hearts.

In a moment, life can change. Can we resolve to use our moments rather than waste them? We can take this moment to change, to become more like Christ—to grow, love, serve, and change the world for Him. What we do today can truly make a difference. This difference can make the day.

So, if we have failed and things look hopeless, we need to remember God’s mercies are new every morning.¹ We don’t have to wait until tomorrow to get those mercies because He gave us new ones today. Today, we can show integrity, love, compassion, forgiveness, and repentance. We can do the right thing. We can turn away from the wrong. And tomorrow can find us in a new place, if not physically, then spiritually. We can grow. And the shape we become will be because of the choices we made today, at this moment.

Sometimes we mark the day as significant such as when there is a holiday or special occasion. Other times, the day is viewed as ordinary and just a typical passage of time—an old day ends and a new one begins. And now here we are changing from 2022 to 2023 and marking it as significant, but every day after January 1st can be just as significant. We can choose the brightest tomorrow by choosing the Savior today. Our souls can be saved, and our lives can be changed forever. We can turn our faces fully to Christ rather than living with our backs to Him. We can leave behind the old and step into the new. Our days can be different, if we will fill them with Him. We can give Him our grief and pain and take on His strength and power. We can walk the road He has intended for us rather than go our own way. We can say “This is the day the Lord has made” and ask ourselves what we will make of it.² What will we do with what He gives us? Will we make the day about Him or about ourselves? Will we enter His presence, enjoy His blessings, and bask in His love? Will we shine for Him and show His glory?

This is the difference a day makes. How will our day make a difference?

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“For ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’”³

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“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”⁴

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NOTES

¹ See Lamentations 3:22–23.

² See Psalm 118:24a.

³ Romans 10:13

⁴ Philippians 3:13–14

Scriptures taken from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible, ©1982 by Thomas Nelson.

©Text and photo Francee Strain, January 1, 2023.