Friday, January 1, 2010

a new year comes once in a blue moon...




it was a blue moon. rare. lovely. softly sliding up the sky as the old year passed away and the moments moved silently on the clock.

what is it about a new year that is so special?

dennis and i, after a delicious pizza dinner, were eating pistachios and drinking chamomile tea sitting on our little boat, the fresh evening breeze cooling the remnants of the hot day and the water a mirror for the lights. we talked softly, laughed even more softly, remembered and "futured" and listened to our baby sleeping below deck...

beautiful evening. spoiled- even the loveliest of moments have a dark side, because we are in a dark world- by the foul storming of our drunken neighbor. we blocked out the ugliness and focused on the beauty of the blue moon. prayed for our wounded neighbor.

welcome, new year. i choose to be hopeful. i choose to relinquish all that was painful, hard, and dark last year. begin again.

a prayer for this new year:

How often, when everything else fails us, do we yearn for YOU, our MIGHTY CREATOR. In the stillness of the night, in the press of the crowd, in the agony of inner conflict, we bow our heads, and at that moment, YOU are in our hearts and we are at peace.

We do not know, O MERCIFUL LORD, whether the gifts for which we ask are for our good, whether our trials and tribulations may not be blessings in disguise, whether even the fragments of our shattered hopes and dreams may not minister to the up-building of other lives and the fulfillment of YOUR unfathomable plan. So we do not pray that YOU make our lives easy, to give us happiness without adversity. Rather we pray that YOU continue to help us to be uncomplaining and unafraid. Teach us to face life with faith and courage that we may see the blessings hidden away even in its conflicts and struggles. Help us to find victory in the discipline of pain transforming all things into loving obedience. May we seek the face of GOD because HE is GOD.

May we realize that life calls us, not merely to enjoy the fatness of the earth, but to rejoice in heights attained after the toil of climbing. Then, our darkness will be illumined by YOUR GLORIOUS LIGHT and our weakness made strong by YOUR strength, lifting us above fear and defeat, and sustaining our steps with an immortal hope.

The ALMIGHTY ONE is HOPE to them that wait for HIM, JOY to the Land of Israel, and GLADNESS to the City of Jerusalem; and a FLOURISHING HORN to HIS servants. The SON OF JESSE, HIS ANOINTED is a CLEAR SHINING LIGHT to those who fear HIM. O, give glory and praise to the LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT!

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