“With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

One of my favorite biblical analogies is recorded the books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. According to Matthew, Jesus said, “Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.”

The bottles referred to were not made of glass, but partially tanned goatskins and the new wine or “must” was placed in the bottles for easier transport. The must, which is partially fermented wine, creates gas as it continues to ferment. New goatskin bottles would stretch from the pressure, but once stretched they lost their elasticity. Hence, putting new wine into an old bottle would likely end in a big mess and a total loss of the new wine.

This parable was given by Jesus when he was asked why His disciples didn’t fast like the Pharisee’s, but I’ve found it to be useful in a number of different contexts. For instance, what do you do with the wine of a new day? Do you pour it into an old bottle (e.g. an old frame of mind, a closed and stale heart, etc.) or do you put it in a new bottle (e.g. a fresh outlook, an open and thankful heart, etc.)?

I’ve found in my own experience that way I end the day – and more particularly the state in which I leave my heart and mind before I fall asleep – significantly influences the way I begin the next day. Taking time for thanksgiving, repentance, forgiveness and a general settling of the factors of the previous day makes it much more likely that I will greet “the strength and the new thoughts” of the new day with an open and untroubled heart and a rested and keen mind.

If your days seem to be an endless round I would suggest to you that it is not a matter of externalities. If your life has become monotonous changing the stimuli will likely have little, if any, lasting effect. The problem more likely resides in you and the “bottle” you are offering to the sunrise of the new day. Rather than ask yourself what can I change around me, ask instead, how can I better prepare myself for the unique blessings of the new day?