Looking Forward

I do not want to discuss 2020.  We are DONE!!!

But… what better time to think about next year than during the last week of the current year?

So, the questions I want to ask are:
How can this coming new year be different? How can this new year be better? ​Answering these questions – That is up to us.

Janet Starkey

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When I think about the current year and the next, the one word which comes to mind is: “blessings.” I am so very blessed, even with all the sorrow and loss of 2020. We ARE blessed - in so many ways - the good and the bad.

My focus for the coming year will be on not what has been lost, but what has been found. We have found new ways to connect regularly: Zoom, FaceTime, notes, cards, email and phone calls. We have found we can worship and gather remotely and not lose our sense of community and fellowship.  We have found time to read, organize and catch up on those past due projects; (which may or may not have included binge-watching something on some device, somewhere, and possibly pajamas were involved…). These are but a few things from this past year I want to continue to follow into the next year and beyond. This coming year, I 
want to seek out the good, remember to communicate more, and extend   ​

kindnesses to all.  I want to acknowledge that we need truly little to survive and that we have so much to give. We have each other.  Blessings--indeed!

​There are two beautiful songs that come to mind when I think of blessings. One is relatively new, released in 2011 and written by Laura Story. Two years after Laura married her husband, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. ‘Story learned that despite his life-threatening illness, they saw how God never intended for people to provide for themselves and that instead of walking alone they would need to rely on Jesus's help.  “Blessings” was written to describe how God will allow things that are not immediately understood to happen, but from a different perspective they are a means of spiritual growth.’  [1]

​The other is the hymn, The Doxology. The history is rich and the words we sing were written by the Anglican Bishop Thomas Ken in 1674.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise Him, all creatures here below.
Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.

I pray that we can all be mindful of the blessings we have and to praise God, extending them to those we know and those we meet in 2021.

In His Name, Janet
​

The Doxology
Anthem Lights featuring Selah

Blessings
Laura Story

Sources
[1] Blessings (Laura Story Song) Wikipedia
​[2] Lyrics to  Laura Story's Blessings