As we leave 2020 behind and enter the new year, I am very aware of the grief, loss, loneliness and struggle this past year has brought to so many people. Like all of us, I hope that 2021 will be better. I look forward in hope to a curtailing of this pandemic and the effective roll-out of the vaccines; I long for more consistent and compassionate political leadership, and for meaningful in-roads to tackling our global issues of prejudice, social inequalities, abuse and violence, climate change and the exploitation of our environment.
I recognise, though, that I cannot change any of this myself and that the only thing (person) I can change is me.
So, with that in mind, this is my prayer for the new year (with thanks to Pádraig Ó Tuama and Daily Prayer with the Corrymeela Community):
I begin this year with trust and hope:
Honouring this life that God has given
With all its potentials and possibilities;
Knowing I am created for loving encounter;
Knowing the year can hold love, joy, healing and forgiveness;
Beauty, truth and goodness.
I hold – but hold lightly – my hopes, plans and expectations.
I lay aside my need for affirmation and acclaim;
For power and control;
For comfort and security.
I make room for the unexpected –
May I find wisdom and life in the unexpected.
Help me to respond graciously to disappointment;
To hold tenderly those I encounter;
To be fully present –
To you, to your creation, to my fellow creatures,
To each present moment.
I resolve to live life in its fulness;
To welcome the people who will be part of my year;
To greet God in ordinary and hidden moments;
To love the life I am given.
–
(and if I express it as a prayer, rather than a new year’s resolution, then I can blame God if I don’t quite get there!)
