Healthy Living

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What is your prayer for the New Year
By Dan Langerock

What is your attitude about each new day? Is it a time of drudgery, boredom, pessimism, joy, expectation or …? So many people I meet are bored with their lives, yet don’t have the gumption to improve them. This is particularly true of those who have worked all their lives and are now retired, wondering what to do with so much time on their hands.

In my opinion, older age is not a time to just coast until we die, but to accept new challenges and help those around me in creative ways. I am going back to college to pick up some more credits for my next degree as well as sharpen some computer skills.

There are many opportunities to volunteer in this valley, and many of my friends are finding fulfillment doing this. You know what you enjoy, so you must find the niche that suits you. As a popular advertisement puts it: “A mind is a terrible thing to waste”.

A Prayer For The New Year

"Edgar A. Guest"

Grant me the strength from day to day
To bear what burdens come my way.
Grant me throughout this bright New Year
More to endure and less to fear.
Help me live that I may be
From spite and petty malice free.

Let me not bitterly complain
When cherished hopes of mine prove vain,
Or spoil with deeds of hate and rage
Some fair tomorrow's spotless page.
Lord, as the days shall come and go
In courage let me stronger grow.

Let me with patience stand and wait,
A friend to all who find my gate,
Keep me from envy and from scorn;
As shines the sun with every morn
On great and low, so let me give
My love to all who round me live.

Lord, as the New Year dawns today
Help me to put my faults away.
Let me be big in little things;
Grant me the joy which friendship brings.
Keep me from selfishness and spite;
Let me be wise in what is right.

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.

Ask God to show you the needs around you, because many times we become so self-absorbed that we fail to see these when they are so close-at-hand and apparent. If nothing else, you can be a friend and encouragement to someone in your sphere of influence: a neighbor, friend, grandchild, someone you have coffee with, etc. But you will not see these needs unless you care and want to find them. Once you do, ask God for wisdom to fill that need, and He will help you, perhaps inspiring others to do the same.

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