Another Year draws to a close
And a New Year Begins…

I have heard people talk about what a terrible year 2016 was and how glad they are to see it Over.
Well, maybe.

But 2016 was not All Bad,
Beginning with BARACK OBAMA’s Inspiring Final State of the Union Address
And ending with the poetic death of DEBBIE REYNOLDS following her daughter
(I do not see Death as a Bad thing, merely a fact of Life. And to die with Such a Poetic Touch is a Gift so rarely witnessed in this world.)

2016 gave us…
The First Female Presidential Nominee by a major Political Party (and she won the Popular Vote!),
The CHICAGO CUBS winning the World Series for the first time in 108 years,
More than 800 BOKO HARAM Hostages being rescued rescued by the Nigerian Army,
Members of the Orlando Shakespeare Company wearing giant Angel Wings to block Anti-Gay Protesters from view at the funeral services for the Orlando PULSE NIGHTCLUB Victims,
The BIDEN-OBAMA Memes,
Clinical Trials for new Precision Treatments for Cancer that are Proving to be Effective,
DOLLY PARTON’s MY PEOPLE Fund providing $1,000 per month for up to six months to Sevier County Families who lost there homes in the wildfires…

I am not oblivious to the wonky stuff that is going on in the World,
Nor to the ominous future of this incoming political administration.
But I am also no stranger to Faith.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen
[Hebrews 11:1]

There is SO MUCH BEAUTY in this WORLD!
There is SO MUCH LOVE in SO MANY PEOPLE!
And there is COURAGE!
There is the Ability to STAND!
And to Do The Right Thing!
We can Move Forward
Together
As a People
We can Be Present for One Another
And Create for Ourselves the World we Envision!
Let us Create for Ourselves the New Year we would like to See!
Let it be a Year of HEALING
A Year of LOVE
A Year of Progressive Movement
And Dreams Realized!
A Year of Possibility!
And a Year of Letting Go!
Let us find New Ways to help one another
And to Discover who we are as a Community!

Let us Imagine a Better World
And Let us Fulfill that Vision
This is not a Year that comes upon us,
Nor merely a chronological Sequence.
It is a Year that we Create!
It is a New Year
A New Opportunity
To take one another’s Hands
And to Be the Change we would like to see in this World.

Take My Hand
Let us Move Forward Together
Flourish
And Create our Future
Lift our Voices
Work Together
And even in the face of all that confront us,
Let us Make a Better World
Let us Make a Better Version of OurSelves
By the Words we Speak…
By the Actions we Take…
By the Vision we Hold…
By our Respect of One Another and OurSelves!

Nothing is Given us
But what we Make of It!
Let us use our astonishing Powers of Creation
And Create a New Year
Brimming with Beneficence…

I Let Go of every unhelpful thought!
I Bless Every One of my Brothers and Sisters!
I ask Forgiveness for every misstep
And strive to be a better Version of Myself!
I ask for the Willingness to Be all that I can Be!
And I embrace this New Year with all my Heart!
For Time is our Most Precious Gift!
I Surrender every pre-conceived Notion I had about it
And I begin, Awash in Gratitude
For the Miracle of simply Living into it!

Here’s to the most Precious Gift that is this New Year…
I am Happy to Be Here!
And I am Happy that we are here Together!

Prophet, the Great Work Begins…

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