It is only a year since I wrote the words ” There is hope in every sunrise and every sunset all across the world” They were part of my new year’s prayer for 2021. Unfortunately the turbulence of 2021 and the ongoing impact of COVID soon cast my words into the shadows and I only recently rediscovered them. How much I need them again in 2022. My first attempt at a New Year’s prayer this year was pretty pessimistic:
The death of this year crept
Like a black frost across the earth,
Overwhelming us with its destructive power.
It rattled the world with despair and sorrow.
Sometimes its hard to see the cracks
Through which God’s glory shines.
However as I meditated on my words from a year ago I realized how much my view of the coming year and of life itself depends on my attitude. If I focus on death and despair that is what I will see as I move into 2022. If on the other hand, I focus on beauty and awe and the love of God I will see the hope and promise intrinsic in every sunrise and every sunset and I will be motivated to bring beauty into places of sorrow and injustice and ugliness. So here is the prayer that finally emerged:
The hope and promise of the new year
Emerges from the tatters of the old.
Hold onto the beauty of each moment
As long as you can,
For it too will pass
Into the place where lost thoughts,
Lost words and lost experiences find their rest.
Savour each moment with delight
For it bears the wonder of God,
In its hand.
Hold it lightly.
Tight grasping
will not delay the inevitable
Passing away.
It will only push the moment’s beauty out of shape.
There is hope in every sunrise all across the world.
Let it unveil the beauty even in the midst of pain.
Let it nourish and guide us.
And lead us to the One
Whose love and beauty fills our world.
(c) Christine Sine December 2021
More New Year Prayers
- May the God of surprise bring you hope today – A prayer at the end of the year.
- The Promise of Newness Beckons; A Prayer for 2019
- Prayer of Hope for New Year 2018
- New Years Prayer for 2016
- New Years Prayer for 2015
- New Years Prayer for 2014
- New Years Prayer for 2013
- New Years Prayer for 2012
- New Years Prayer for 2011
- The End of the Year by John O’Donohue
- The Promise of Newness Beckons