PRAYING HANDS

There are hands that help and comfort,
Hands that plan and teach,
Hands that rest and hands that strive
For a goal just out of reach,
Hands that grasp and hands that give,
Hands that work and play,
Friendly hands and loving hands
That soothes life's cares away.
But praying hands are dearest
In the sight of God above
For in their sweet and earnest clasp
Are reverence and love.
No hands can do an unkind act
Nor cause another care
Nor sin against Our Father's love
When they are clasped in prayer.
Author Unknown

Time has no divisions to mark its passage, there is never a thunder-storm or blare of trumpets to announce the beginning of a new month or year. Even when a new century begins it is only we mortals who ring bells and fire off pistols.
Thomas Mann

Of all sound of all bells . . . most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year.
Charles Lamb

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1850

Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go.
Brooks Atkinson

Hope smiles on the threshold of the year to come, whispering that it will be happier.
Alfred Lord Tennyson

Then sing, young hearts that are full of cheer,
With never a thought of sorrow;
The old goes out, but the glad young year
Comes merrily in tomorrow.
Emily Miller

New Year's Day is every man's birthday.
Charles Lamb

It is always during a passing state of mind that we make lasting resolutions.
Marcel Proust

Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
Hal Borland

New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of silence among created things that the passage of another twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite the same thoughts this evening that come with the coming of darkness on other nights.
Hamilton Wright Mabie

Each age has deemed the new-born year
The fittest time for festal cheer.
Sir Walter Scott

Heavenly Father, in this time of New Year and New Beginnings, help me to hold on to what is good and to let go of that which you want me to. Please guide me throughout the coming year. Thank you for your love that sets me free to start anew. Help me to live one day at a time. Amen

The tradition of the New Year’s Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. as Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar. With two faces, Janus could not only look back on past events, but forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies. They also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn’t begin on that date everywhere today. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 BC when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365 day solar calendar. The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the God of Beginnings and the Guardian of Doors and Entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back allowing him to look backward and forward at the same time. The Romans imagined Janus at midnight on December 31 looking back at the Old Year and forward to the New Year. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year’s Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. More common New Year’s Eve gifts were nuts or coins imprinted with Janus.

During the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year’s Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Later they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

The Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures have lunar calendars, less than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar and their New Year begins at the time of the first full-moon (over the Far East) after the sun enters Aquarius – sometime between January 19 and February 21. Although the date for New Year’s Day is not the same in every culture, it is always a time for celebration and for customs to ensure good luck in the coming year.

The celebration of the New Year is the oldest of all holidays. It was first observed in ancient Babylon about 4000 years ago. Around 2000 BC Babylonians celebrated the beginning of a New Year on what is now March 23, although they themselves had no written calendar. Late March is the time of the year that Spring begins and new crops are planted. January 1 has no astronomical nor agricultural significance. In Babylonian, the New Year celebration lasted for eleven days. Each day had its own particular mode of celebration. The Romans continued to observe the New Year on March 25. Their calendar was continually tampered with by the various emperors so that the calendar soon became out of synchronization with the sun. In 153 BC, in order to set the calendar right, the Roman Senate declared January 1 to be the beginning of the New Year. Julius Caesar, in 46 BC established what has come to be known as the Julian Calendar which again established January 1 as the New Year. In order to synchronize the calendar with the sun, Caesar allowed the previous year to last for 445 days.
Author Unknown

Good luck rituals from around the world believed to bring good fortune and prosperity in the coming year.

Austria – The suckling pig is the symbol for good luck for the New Year. It is served on a table decorated with tiny edible pigs. Dessert often consists of green peppermint ice cream in the shape of a four-leaf clover.

China – For the Chinese New Year, every front door is adorned with a fresh coat of red paint. Red is a symbol of good luck and happiness. Although the whole family prepares a feast for the New Year, all knives are put away for 24 hours to keep anyone from cutting themselves, which is thought to cut the family’s good luck for the coming year. The Chinese use a Chinese calendar which consists of both the Gregorian and lunar-solar systems, with the latter dividing a year into twelve months, each equally divided into thirty-nine and a half days. There is also a system which marks the years in a twelve-year cycle, naming each of them after an animal; Rat, Ox Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. People born in a particular year are believed to share some of the personalities of that particular animal.

England – The British place their fortunes for the coming year in the hands of their first guest. They believe the first visitor of each year should be make and bearing gifts. Traditional gifts are coal for the fire, a loaf of bread for the table and a drink for the master. For good luck, the guest should enter through the front door and leave through the back. Guests who are empty-handed or unwanted are not allowed to enter first.

Greece – A special New Year’s bread is baked with a coin buried in the dough. The first slice is for the Christ child, the second for the father of the household and the third slice is for the house. If the third slice holds the coin, Spring will come early.

Haiti – New Year’s Day in Haiti, is a sign of the year to come. Haitians wear new clothing and exchange gifts in the hope that it will bode well for the New Year.

Japan – The Japanese decorate their homes in tribute to lucky gods. One tradition, kadomatsu, consists of a pine branch symbolizing longevity, a bamboo stalk symbolizes prosperity and a plum blossom shows nobility.

Norway – Norwegians make rice pudding at the New Year and hide one whole almond in it. Guaranteed wealth comes to the person whose serving holds the lucky almond.

Peru – Peruvian’s eat 12 grapes at the turn of the year like the Spanish. But a 13th grape must be eaten to assure good luck.

Sicily – Sicilian tradition says good luck will come to those who eat lasagna on New Year’s Day. Dining on macaroni or any other noodle will bring bad luck.

Spain – When the clock strikes midnight, the Spanish eat 12 grapes, one with every toll to bring good luck for the 12 months ahead.

United States – The kiss shared at the stroke of midnight in the United States is derived from masked balls that have been common throughout history. As tradition has it, the masks symbolize evil spirits from the old year and the kiss is the purification into the New Year. The song, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year. In spite of the popularity of the song, it has been described as the song nobody knows. The title means ‘old long ago’ or ‘the good old days’. The song was written by Robert Burns in 1741, but not published until 1796 after his death.

Wales – At the first toll of midnight, the back door is opened and then shut to release the old year and lock out all of its bad luck. At the twelfth stroke of the clock, the front door is opened and the New Year is welcomed with all of its luck.
Author Unknown

In the old McGuffey’s Reader is a story about the clock that had been running for a long, long time on the mantelpiece. One day the clock began to think about how many times during the year ahead it would have to tick. It counted up the seconds – 31,536,000 in the year – and the old clock just got to tired and said, “I can’t do it,” and stopped right there. When somebody reminded the clock that it did not have to tick the 31,536,000 seconds all at one time, but rather one by one, it began to run again and everything was all right.
Nenien C. McPherson, Jr.

Spiritual maturity begins when we realize that we are God’s guests in this world. We are not householders, but pilgrims; not landlords, but tenants; not owners, but guests.
C. Willard Fetter

We live on a moving line between past and future. That line is our lifeline.
George A. Buttrick

I've never seen my future and I don't intend to start now. . . . something will happen. That's about as far as I get with philosophy. There's no point mapping out next year. Fate is much more magical.
Paul McCartney

I am totally, eternally secure in Jesus Christ.
There is nothing that can change that blessed assurance.
Romans 8:38, 39

It is difficult not to believe that the next year will be better than the old one! ... And this illusion is not wrong. Future is always good, no matter what happens. It will always give us what we need and what we want in secret. It will always bless us with right gifts. Thus in a deeper sense our belief in the New Year cannot deceive us.
Kersti Bergroth

Let this New Year be the beginning of a new life in each of us wherein “old things are passed away.”
Not the old thoughts, of course, which are still true: but those that remain to nurse and encourage our prejudices.
Not the old emotions that are filled with kindness: but all anger and bitter feeling and railing.
Not the old reverence for the authority of God: but all fears born of our unworthy service apart from him.
Not the old gracious ministries that blessed mankind: but the harsh words, the suspicious looks, the clenched hands, and the unwilling feet.
Not the old habits that keep us in the straight way: but the new fashions that make us unmindful of those things which hold life together in the unity of good manners.
Not the old friends who grow more beloved each year because their worth is better appreciated: but the new associations made from mercenary motives.
Let all blessed old things stay, but let the clutter of our heads and hearts be removed, that new inspirations and new affections may come in to gladden our lives.
Chester Burge Emerson

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us.
1 John 5:14

My message has been very simple. To live well we must have a faith fit to live by, a self fit to live with, and a work fit to live for – something to which we can give ourselves and thus get ourselves off our hands. We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life. But we can decide what happens in us – how we can take it, what we do with it – and that is what really counts in the end. How to take the raw stuff of life and make it a thing of worth and beauty – that is the test of living. Life is an adventure of faith, if we are to be victors over it, not victims of it. Faith in the God above us, faith in the little infinite soul within us, faith in life and in our fellow souls – without faith, the plus quality, we cannot really live.
Joseph Fort Newton

Thank you for the everyday gifts I so often take for granted. Remind me to open my eyes and see your divine touch in all things around me. Amen

Do not look forward to the changes and chances of this life in fear; rather look to them with full hope that, as they arise, God, whose you are, will deliver you out of them. He is your keeper. He has kept you hitherto. Do you but hold fast to his dear hand, and he will lead you safely through all things; and, when you cannot stand, he will bear you in his arms. Do not look forward to what may happen tomorrow. Our Father will either shield you from suffering, or he will give you strength to bear it.
St. Francis De Sales

Every trouble is an opportunity to win the grace of strength. Whatever else trouble is in the world for, it is here for this good purpose – to develop strength. For a trouble is a moral and spiritual task. It is something which is hard to do. And it is the spiritual world as in the physical, strength is increased by encounter with the difficult. A world without any trouble in it would be, to people of our kind, a place of spiritual enervation and moral laziness. Fortunately, every day is crowded with care. Every day to every one of us brings its questions, its worries and its tasks, brings its sufficiency of trouble. Thus we get our daily spiritual exercise. Every day we are blessed with new opportunities for the development of strength of soul.
George Hodges

God broke the years to hours and days,
That hour by hour
And day by day,
Just going on a little way,
We might be able all along
To keep quite strong.
George Klingle

O Lord, Guide me to hear your whispers and to live each day a new one for you. Help me to remember that if I get the little things right, the big things will take care of themselves. Open the door of my heart. Make me a stone in your temple of love. Amen

One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.
Dale Carnegie

I feel that you are justified in looking into the future with true assurance, because you have a mode of living in which we find the joy of life and the joy of work harmoniously combined. Added to this is the spirit of ambition which pervades your very being, and seems to make the day's work like a happy child at play.
Albert Einstein

I think in terms of the day's resolutions, not the year's.
Henry Moore

The kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:21

Our lives are made up of a million moments spent in a million different ways.
Some are spent searching for love, peace, and harmony, others are spent surviving day by day.
But there is no greater moment than when we find that life, with all it’s joys and sorrows, is meant to be lived one day at a time.
It’s in this knowledge that we discover the most wonderful truth of all.
Whether we live in a forty-room mansion, surrounded by servants and wealth,
or find it a struggle to manage the rent month to month.
We have it within our power to be fully satisfied and live a life with true meaning.
One day at a time – we have that ability, through cherishing each moment and rejoicing in each dream.
We can experience each day anew, and with this fresh start we have what it takes to make all our dreams come true.
Each day is new, and living one day at a time
Enables us to truly enjoy life and live it to the fullest.
Author Unknown

Always keep your eyes open for the little task, because it is the little task that is important to Jesus Christ. The future of the Kingdom of God does not depend on the enthusiasm of this or that powerful person; those great ones are necessary too, but it is equally necessary to have a great number of little people who will do a little thing in the service of Christ.
The great flowing rivers represent only a small part of all the water that is necessary to nourish and sustain the earth. Beside the flowing river there is the water in the earth – the subterranean water – and there are the little streams which continually enter the river and feed it and prevent it from sinking into the earth. Without these other waters – the silent hidden subterranean waters and the trickling streams – the great river could no longer flow. Thus it is with the little tasks to be fulfilled by us all.
Albert Schweitzer

Just for today, I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problem at once. I can do something for twelve hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a lifetime.
Just for today, I will be happy. This assumes to be true what Abraham Lincoln said, that “most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
Just for today, I will try to strengthen my mind. I will study. I will learn something useful. I will not be a mental loafer. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration.
Just for today, I will adjust myself to what is, and not try to adjust everything to my own desires. I will take my “luck” as it comes, and fit myself to it.
Just for today, I will exercise my soul in three ways: I will do somebody a good turn, and not get found out. I will do at least two things I don’t want to do—just for exercise. I will not show anyone that my feelings are hurt; they may be hurt, but today I will not show it.
Just for today, I will be agreeable, I will look as well as I can, dress becomingly, talk low, act courteously, criticize not one bit, not find fault with anything and not try to improve or regulate anybody except myself.
Just for today, I will have a program. I may not follow it exactly, but I will have it. I will save myself from two pests: hurry and indecision.
Just for today, I will have a quiet half-hour all by myself and relax. During this half-hour, sometime, I will try to get a better perspective of my life.
Just for today, I will be unafraid. Especially I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful, and to believe that as I give to the world, so the world will give to me.
Kenneth L. Holmes

O Lord, in this New Year with new resolutions, help me to make a fresh new year living one day at a time, not worrying about the yesterdays or the tomorrows. Help me to see what I can accomplish, if I only put my trust in you. Help me to take time for myself, to take time for others, and most of all, to take time for you before I begin my day. Please use me to lift up others even as You have sent others to lift me in my times of need. Amen

Just for today. . .
Take time to pray . . . it helps to bring God near and washes the dust of earth from your eyes.
Take time for friends . . . it is the source of happiness.
Take time for work . . . it is the price of success.
Take time to think . . . it is the source of power.
Take time to read . . . it is the foundation of knowledge.
Take time to laugh. . . it is the singing that helps with life’s loads.
Take time to love. . . it is the one sacrament of life.
Take time to dream. . . it hitches the soul to the stars.
Take time to play. . . it is the secret of youth.
Take time to worship. . . it is the highway to reverence.
Author Unknown

I bring thee now, O God, the parcel of a completed day. For I have wrapped it in my thoughts, tied it with my acts, and stored it in the purposes for which I live.
As the evening falls and while I seek thy face in prayer, grant unto me the joy of good friends, the curative power of new interests, the peace of the quiet heart.
Bestow upon me, Eternal spirit, light as darkness comes –
Light not of the sun but of the soul, not for the eye but for the mind.
Light by which to judge the errors and the wisdom of the day’s work.
Light for the path that the soul must find in the tangled ways of coming days.
And grant thou again the healing touch of sleep.
Percy Roy Hayward

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this: To rise above the little things.
John Burroughs

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past.
Henry Ward Beecher

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul.
G.K. Chesterton

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.
Martin Luther

This is a time for reflection as well as celebration.
As you look back on the past year and all that has taken place in your life,
Remember each experience for the good that has come of it
and for the knowledge you have gained.
Remember the efforts you have made and the goals you have reached.
Remember the love you have shared and the happiness you have brought.
Remember the laughter, the joy, the hard work, and the tears.
And as you reflect on the past year, also be thinking of the new one to come.
Because most importantly, this is a time of new beginnings
and the celebration of life.
Taylor Addison

Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from old memories of bitterness, rancor and hate, cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past—have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time. Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so many persons spoil the entire lot this way) but prepare one day at a time.
Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest (leaving this out is like leaving the oil out of the salad dressing— don’t do it), prayer, meditation, and one well-selected resolution. Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.
Author Unknown

Another fresh new year is here …
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest …
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
William Arthur Ward

Dear Lord, please give me…
A few friends who understand me and remain my friends;
A work to do which has real value,
without which the world would be the poorer;
A mind unafraid to travel, even though the trail be not blazed;
An understanding heart;
A sense of humor;
Time for quiet, silent meditation;
A feeling of the presence of God;
The patience to wait for the coming of these things,
With the wisdom to recognize them when they come. Amen.
Author Unknown

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it in turn will look sourly at you; laugh at it, and with it, and it is a jolly, kind companion.
William Makepeace Thackeray

Put your life into your prayer, and let it be the most real and most immediate business of your life.
Walter Rauschenbusch

Come, Holy Spirit,
Spirit of the Risen Christ,
Be with us today and always.
Be our Light, our Guide,
And our Comforter.
Be our Strength, our Courage,
And our Sanctifier.
May this new year be a time
Of deep spiritual growth for us,
A time of welcoming
Your graces and gifts,
A time for forgiving freely
And unconditionally,
A time for growing
In virtue and goodness.
Come, Holy Spirit,
Be with us today and always. Amen.
Author Unknown

I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you. Do not fear; I will help you.
Isaiah 41:13

Heavenly Father, for this coming year
Just one request I bring.
I do not pray for happiness or any earthly thing.
I do not ask to understand the way you lead me;
But this I ask—teach me to do the thing that pleases You.
I want to know Your guiding voice,
To walk with you each day.
Heavenly Father,
Make me swift to hear and ready to obey;
And thus the year I now begin
A happy year will be,
If I am seeking just to do
The thing that pleases You. Amen
Author Unknown

Be at war with your vices; at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill,
Be a scrub in the valley – but be
The best little scrub by the side of the rill;
Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.

If you can’t be a bush, be a bit of the grass,
Some highway happier make;
If you can’t be a muskie, then just be a bass –
But the liveliest bass in the lake!

We can’t all be captains, we’ve got to be crew,
There’s something for all of us here,
There’s big work to do, and there’s lesser to do,
And the task we must do is the near.

If you can’t be a highway, then just be a trail,
If you can’t be the sun, be a star;
It isn’t by size that you win or you fail –
Be the best of whatever you are!
Douglas Malloch

Do not attempt to make-up the whole batch at one time for it works best if you work on just one day at a time: Into each day put:
Twelve parts of confidence,
Eleven parts of patience,
Ten parts of grit,
Nine parts of elbow grease,
Eight parts of faith,
Seven parts of hope,
Six parts of charity,
Five parts of kindness,
Four parts of prayer,
Three parts of rest,
Two parts of meditation, and
One carefully selected resolution.
Then – put about a cupful of folly, a jigger of laughter, a sprinkling of play and a heaping cupful of good humor. Cook thoroughly in a fervent heat, garnish with a lot of smiles, a sprig of joy, then serve quietly with unselfishness and cheerfulness --- and a Happy New Year is a certainty.
Author Unknown

Share your gifts and talents listen with your heart.
Do the things you dream about but don't have time to start.

Pick a bouquet of flowers show someone that you care,
Be gracious and forgiving life is never fair.

Hold on to your courage you may need it down the road,
We all have a cross to bear it could be a heavy load.

If you practice all these things no matter where you roam,
You may find both sun and rain but you'll never feel alone.
Author Unknown

To leave the old with a burst of song,
To recall the right and forgive the wrong;
To forget the thing that binds you fast
To the vain regrets of the year that’s past;
To have the strength to let go your hold
Of the not worthwhile of the days grown old,
To dare to go forth with a purpose true,
To the unknown task of the year that’s new;
To help your brother along the road
To do his work and lift his load;
To add your gift to the world’s good cheer,
Is to have and to give a Happy New Year.
Author Unknown

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,
and by making you anxious to be there to help.
God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead. Amen
Author Unknown

I enjoy life. Especially on mornings when I begin to carry out a new and firm resolution.
Anais Nin

O Lord, in this New Year with new resolutions, I thank you for the wonderful gift that You have provided in giving me this day. Direct my steps. No matter what happens today, I trust you to see me through. Open the door of my heart and help me to be a beacon of light, hope and encouragement. Amen

The Old Year has gone. Let the dead past bury its own dead. The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time. All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months!
Edward Payson Powell

There is no moment like the present. The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards: they will be dissipated, lost, and perish in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.
Maria Edgeworth

With bounteous cheer, conclude the year.
Be always at war with your vices,
at peace with your neighbors,
and let each new year find you a better man.
Benjamin Franklin

At any age it does us no harm to look over our past shortcomings and plan to improve our characters and actions in the coming year.
Eleanor Roosevelt

See first that the design is wise and just; that ascertained, pursue it resolutely.
William Shakespeare

I resolve to speak ill of no man whatever, not even in a matter of truth; but rather by some means excuse the faults I hear charged upon others, and upon proper occasions speak all the good I know of everybody.
Benjamin Franklin

Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and can be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face.
St. Francis of Assisi

Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence. If you gain fifteen minutes a day, it will make itself felt at the end of the year.
Horace Mann

We can all pray. We all should pray. We should ask the fulfillment of God’s will. We should ask for courage, wisdom, for the quietness of soul which comes alone to them who place their lives in His hands.
Harry S. Truman

Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. This day is all that is good and fair. It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on yesterdays.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Look not mournfully into the past. It comes not back again. Wisely improve the present. It is thine. Go forth to meet the shadowy future, without fear, and with a manly heart.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
T.S. Eliot

A happy New Year! Grant that I
May bring no tear to any eye
When this New Year in time shall end
Let it be said I've played the friend,
Have lived and loved and labored here,
And made of it a happy year.
Edgar A. Guest

Every new year people make resolutions to change aspects of themselves they believe are negative. The majority of people revert back to how they were before and feel like failures. This year I challenge you to a new resolution. I challenge you to just be yourself.
Aisha Elderwyn

We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives . . ., not looking for flaws, but for potential.
Ellen Goodman

No one ever regarded the First of January with indifference. It is that from which all date their time, and count upon what is left. It is the nativity of our common Adam.
Charles Lamb

We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.”
Edith Lovejoy Pierce

I see your hand, Lord, in everything around me,
And in every aspect of my life, I see your will….
I see your plan, Lord, in all the years behind me.
And in the days and years to come, I’ll trust you still.
Jeremiah 29:11

Those who trust in the Lord for help
will find their strength renewed.
They will rise on wings like eagles;
they will run and not get weary;
they will walk and not grow weak.
Isaiah 40:31

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:13

Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands.
Protect them as they protect us.
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts
they perform for us in our time of need.
I ask this in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

You go no where by accident.
Wherever you go, God is sending you.
Wherever you are, God has put you there.
He has a purpose in your being there.
Christ who dwells in you has something
He wants to do through you where you are.
Believe this and go in His grace and love and power.
Richard C. Halverson, Chaplain of the United States Senate


O God, help me to touch someone today with my eyes,
my words, my smile, my voice, my laughter, Your word.
Change my life, so I can make a difference.
Let my actions bring someone closer to you.
Help me to make Christmas last all year.
Help me to use my gifts for Jesus.

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