Thought for the week (we 29th December 2013)

The inevitable media ‘reviews’ on TV, radio and the newspapers of the last year will as usual highlight the major events of the closing year.

Whether political, international, sporting or in the world of entertainment we are going to be reminded, whether we like it or not of those events which in one way or another may have affected us all.

The same is true in our own lives; it’s the time of year when we look back and hopefully look forward as well. The ups and downs of the last year will come to mind along with some New Year resolutions to help us along. Last year may well have been a combination of times to remember and those we would prefer to forget.

Occasions when everything went our way, of fun and friendship which made the last year one to remember. Then again illness, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship or redundancy may have come our way casting a shadow and making the future seem uncertain so much so that December 31st could not come quickly enough.

2014 like every year is of course, unchartered territory for us all. None of us know what even the next minute holds and yet there’s the sure promise that God is with us and we do not face the future alone.

In his 1939 Christmas Day broadcast to a troubled nation King George VI concluded his nine-minute broadcast with a poem which must have brought encouragement and comfort to all who listened.

For us, living in an uncertain world they remain words of hope and assurance. ‘I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” and he replied, “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”

May that same Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all this New Year.