At the End of Another Year

Another year is departing

With just about six hours to go,

Some did not make it to the end

Great folks we were glad to know.

The cut is still fresh and bleeding

We are hurting quite a lot,

It’s difficult to make sense of their passing

But there is still much that we’ve got.

As we watch out the remaining hours

We give thanks we are still here

For we too could have be off the scene

And still could before the coming year.

There have been sorrow but also joy

There have been gains and losses,

Every one of us, though born again

Have had to bear our crosses.

But at no time I’m sure you know

Did we have to carry on alone,

There was one who walked with us

And he heard our every groan.

We set great store by our prayers

And the fanciful words that we say

But the groans we emit and the painful sobs,

He responds to them too in his own way.

So as this old year winds on down

And blows away into eternity,

We give God thanks for His great care

And every God-sent opportunity.

We praise Him too for the prospect

That looms in the coming year,

And though we do not know the future

We hold to faith instead of fear.

So Heavenly Father we thank you

Particularly in these last moments of 2018:

Another year that was a testimony to the fact

You never put on us what we cannot bear.

Stewart Russell © December 2018