RECIPE FOR THE NEW YEAR

A new year will unfold on January 1, 2021…that means 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, and 31,536,000 seconds.

All this time is a gift from God. We have done nothing to deserve it, earn it, or can purchase it. Like the air we breathe, time comes to us as a part of life.

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Consider this recipe for a HAPPY NEW YEAR…

Take twelve fine, full-grown months.

Make sure 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.)

Prepare one day at a time—like a blossom with petals curled tightly concealing the beauty within before blooming.

Into each day put equal parts of faith, love, patience, courage, work, hope, fidelity, kindness, caring, rest, 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.

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Lord, let this coming year be filled with the things that are truly good—with the comfort of warmth in our relationships, with the strength to help those who need our help and the humility and openness to accept help from others. As we make our resolutions for the year ahead, let us go forward with great hope that all things can be possible—with Your help and guidance.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12 NIV

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23 NLT

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV



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