Watching out Old Year’s night
Into the dawning of the New
Another year has flown so quickly
It just flitted past our view.
Notwithstanding the plans we made
And the conditions that prevailed
We have made it yet another time
Before the grim reaper could assail.
Some that started out with us
Are no longer in this life’s fray
Having gone the way of all flesh
In spite of our plea for them to stay.
We take this moment to reflect
On their life and legacy
And pray that we who have remained
Would preserve their memory.
The New Year beckons with its challenges
Challenges of varying assortment
Some of which we are aware
But others in the unknown department.
Some to which we know the answers
Others we have failed to resolve,
Whatever the level of difficulty
Each of us somehow will be involved.
None of us can hope to escape
The ravages of the coming year
For as a global community
We all experience the common fear.
The fear regarding life’s quality
And what the future holds,
The fear and angst of the unpredictable
That confronts the timid and the bold.
The fear of death and what it entails
And of destinies whether this or that,
The fear of life beyond the grave
Whether or not such is a fact.
These and so many other thoughts
Vie for our attention one way or another,
It doesn’t matter whether we’re rich or poor
For most, these issues are a bother.
Nothing is quite so disconcerting
As peering into the unknown
With its large and looming uncertainty
And its characterized, ominous tone.
The unknown is all around us
So near that we can almost touch
But yet we ne’er can decipher the next event
To put plans in place for such.
Like a little vessel in the ocean huge
We are carried along on its whim,
Helpless almost to do anything
And our chances hopelessly slim.
Into the inevitable, unknown reality
We chart a course for the year
Knowing full well that by February
That course will have disappeared.
The compass of life by which we sail
Depends upon what we see
The North Star is fixed but where in life
Do we have such a desired facility?
We sail through life by guess at best
Premised on a number of assumptions
But the fickleness of the human mind
Often finds us short of truth and reason.
Hence
The question on every mind should be:
Where can I find a guiding star,
A star not shaken by circumstance
Like that guiding wise men from afar?
For given our position in the belly of the ship
Amidst the boisterous waves
There must be one with an overarching view
That has the ability to save.
There is such a one that knows the unknown
That from Him nothing is hid;
He created the universe and you and me
And now for our life He bids.
God’s Son by whom He made all things
Was the bid He made for us,
His life’s blood was spilt on Calvary’s cross
Yes, God’s Son’s name is Jesus
God the Father looked down from high
And saw vessels without helm or rudder,
The captains thereof knew not what to do
And the mighty winds made them shudder.
With a wooden cross he stayed their ships
And gave them a chance to cope
All they needed to do was simply apply
Through Jesus our ever conquering hope
The New Year need not take us unawares
Because the future we do not know,
The Holy Spirit is more reliable than any star
From the Bible we learn that this is so.
With him in our vessel we can smile
Yes, we can smile at the storm,
He has weathered many a tempest
Tempests of all kinds and form.
Let not the New Year find you on the rocks
Battered and broken from the year before,
Accept the bid God has made for you
There is so much for you in store.
A captain with whom you can sail any sea
However the winds and waves may churn
With simple trust and faith in Him
There is much that you can learn.
A reducing fear regarding the unknown,
Less fear of death or what’s beyond
For God who guides, knows everything
About every New Year from Creation’s dawn.
Stewart Russell © 2016
