New days

Today I am grateful for new days.  At the end of each day I think back on my day and I try to see where I could have done better.  I pray and ask Heavenly Father to help me do and be better tomorrow.  Every day I try to be a better person then I was the day before.
I'm not big into watching the sunrise.  I love to see it and all, it's so beautiful, but honesty I love sleep more then beauty.  Don't hate me Elizabeth.  I do love to wake up earlier then my kids so that I can read scriptures without the distractions of every day life around here.  And there is just something about morning that feels so clean and fresh, new even.  When I get to wake up earlier then the kids I curl up on the couch, or sometimes sit at the kitchen table where I can look out the window and see the day.  For a few minutes I revel in the newness of everything and enjoy the quiet. Then I open my scriptures. Early morning is my favorite time to study the scriptures.  It's not just the quiet, I feel somehow closer to God in the newness of the day, almost like I am a new person and being clean I can be closer to Him then ever.
I suppose this is all connected to the atonement.  It is because of the atonement that I get to start each new day over again.  It is because of that sacrifice that I can make every day better then the last.  It is Christ's atoning sacrifice that allows me to be forgiven of my sins each night and start fresh, clean, and close to God. Some day I hope that I will have come far enough that the whole day has that new day feeling.  The "I am clean and close to God feeling."  Because of the atonement I have the hope that someday I will be clean and live in God's presence again.