A New Year

The end of one year and the dawning of a new one provides an excellent opportunity to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start.

The following are excerpts were taken from a column written by Norman Vincent Peale many years ago.

William Ewart Gladstone , once a minister of Great Britain said: " It is a dangerous thing for any person to start out a new year without the thought of God."

None of us can see very far ahead of life's pathway. We are surrounded on every hand by insecurity. The only certain and for sure factor in this world is the Eternal, 'the same yesterday, today and forever.' God is our security. So it is well to keep God in mind as Gladstone suggests.

As a young boy Norman Vincent Peale said his father would bring a Bible to the dinner table on every New Year's Eve and solemnly, he would open it, turning to its very beginning to read the first four words of the first chapter of Genesis. "In the beginning God." That was all-just those four words. He never explained , but that they are still remembered shows that they registered. It is very true that anyone who will make those four words basic philosophy will have what it takes to meet whatever problems come during the year.

This is so because such reliance on God and His power activates a new start and with it the belief that you can forget yesterday and go forward confidently into the future. The Bible is filled with emphasis on new starts and fresh beginnings. . Such words as: "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before," " I press toward the mark..." And again : "Old things are passed away; all things become new." and still again, "Behold, I make all things new."

Don't lug the past into the future. You have made mistakes, done dumb things. Who hasn't ? Extract from them what experience they contain and then turn and face the future to those wonderful new starts and great new beginnings.

Yes, we can leave the sins and failures of this past year behind us, accept His forgiveness, and press on to higher ground. Remembering God's faithfulness and forgetting past mistakes will make entering the new year a time of joyous anticipation. And don't forget "In the beginning God."

A Prayer for the New Year

God grant us this year a wider view

So we see others faults through the eyes of You-

Teach us to judge not with hasty tongue,

Neither the Adult...nor the Young

Give us patience and grace to endure.

And a stronger faith so we fell secure

And instead of remembering, help us forget

The irritations that caused us to fret

Freely forgiving for some offer

And finding each day a rich recompense

In offering a friendly helping hand

And trying in all ways to understand

That all of us whoever we are

Are trying to reach "an unreachable star"-

For the Great and Small...the Good and Bad,

The Young and Old...the Sad and Glad

Are asking today "Is Life Worth Living"

And the answer is only in Loving and Giving

For only Love can make men kind

And kindness of Heart brings Peace of Mind

And by giving Love, we can start this year

To Lift the clouds of Hate and Fear.

Helen Steiner Rice

A Christmas Prayer For You

LORD

We welcome You
into our hearts
and homes.
Bless us with
Your peace, fill us
with Your joy,
surround us with
Your love.
We celebrate You
and thank You
for coming.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Amen.