A New Year Is Now Here

Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; 
let me know how fleeting is my life.      (Psalm 39:4)

As I read David's prayer, I am reminded just how quickly a year goes by. I am not at all certain that I actually want to know the number of my days. But as I look back on the years God has already given me, they seem simultaneously long and fleeting. And I both know and accept that they will not continue, on this earth, without end.

One of Ron's aunts went home to her Lord this past year. She loved to travel and sing in the church choir. She remained single, worked with her father in their Christian bookstore, lived with him and her mother, and remained in their house after they had both died. When she became incapacitated by a stroke, her sisters and niece lovingly visited and cared for her in a nursing home until the end of her days. Her numerous nieces and nephews where astounded to find themselves each the recipient of a generous inheritance, after a significant portion of her life savings was given to various charities, as had been her lifelong practice.

We learned things about Aunt Adeline after her death that we did not know when she was still with us. When sorting through her possessions, someone found a copy of this poem in her Bible and shared it on the program for her memorial service. 

I ponder these words, written by one of God's daughters and cherished by another, as I greet this new year.

               A new year is now here

                    Lord Jesus.

               Expectantly I enter it.

               Not knowing what is ahead

                    I lean on You

              If it be happiness

                    let me wear it graciously.

              If it be sorrow

                    let me wear it bravely.

              If it be frustration

                    let me wear it trustingly.

              If it be wealth

                    let me wear it thankfully.

              If it be poverty

                    let me wear it proudly.

              If it be sickness

                    let me bear it cheerfully.

              If it be emptiness

                    let me fill it with You, Lord Jesus.

              I do not ask for happiness,

                     only joy.

              I do not ask for wealth,

                     only richness in You.

              I do not ask for health,

                     only strength from You.

              So whatever You send my way

                     in this New Year

                     can be faced

                     leaning on You.

              ~ Ruth Graham Dienert