Let God guide us in the New Year

Most of us have completed our annual list of good intentions, passing resolutions as if we were Congress and legislating changes in our lives. Many of us become self-critical as soon as we become self-conscious. We spend January 1 walking through our lives drawing up a list of things we need to do.

This coming New Year, we should focus on some good potential things we can do and accomplish. We should remember all the good moments of the past, remembering when we felt at ease and resolving to do more to help other people.

Not long after my bride and I were married 64 years ago, New Year’s Eve meant a party and lots of fun. At midnight, most of us would stand in a circle holding hands, singing and blowing our horns.

Those of you my age never dreamed of the changes that would occur in our world over the past 60 years. We had no idea that men would walk on the moon. Riding in a Model T Ford was in style back in the 1940s, and who would have thought back then that you could fly around the world in a jet airplane. In 1958, when my father passed away, my plane took more than a full day flying me home from Germany.

Life was simple back in those days. Our most serious problem at school was chewing gum during class. We wondered at times if we would get new clothes for our birthdays because when you had an older brother, most of your clothes were not new but hand-me-downs.

We do need to remember to stop often during the New Year and remember that God is still in control. He is the one sure Anchor as we face a future of continued fighting around the world, crime and sorrow. We must trust the One who gives us our days knowing that He will guide us with His knowledge in the right direction. Everything will never be perfect, but if we follow God’s will, everything will be fine.

We should not begin our New Year with bitterness, jealousy, hate or ill will toward others. We need to begin our year with a clean heart and with good intentions.

This coming Friday will be the first day of our New Year. Let’s let it be a day and a year to be lived and used in such a way that we will not look back and wish that we had used our time differently. A day that is wasted is a sad thing because we cannot call it back.

Some of us know that as we face the New Year, our lives are a journey getting closer to the end of the road. Yet we should take our days that are left and make good use of them giving a good account to God for the talents He has given us.

As we face the New Year, let us face it with confidence in our leaders. Pray for them daily, and remember that our country is the leader of the free world. Our military men and women serving in foreign countries are serving there in order to preserve our freedoms. Pray for them daily also. Many have made the supreme sacrifice by giving their lives.

As we close out this year and step into 2021, let us fill our days with faith, hope and love—the greatest of which is love. Let us live our lives each day to the fullest and always remember that we have been privileged to live in the greatest country in the world. Thank God daily for allowing us to be Americans.

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