Monday, January 1
Smile.....
It's a new day.
A new year.
Anything is possible.
I begin 2007 the way I begin every new year--with open arms, expectant, eager to celebrate both the ordinary and the spectacular. Savoring simplicity, delighting in the ones I love and who love me. Amazed by g r a c e, grateful for my wealth--and that it's not measured in dollars and cents, but by people, relationships, that matter. Imagining what lies ahead, knowing all will not be "good", which is okay, because that's life, and I'm thankful for it. Hopeful for continued transformation...a life of balance and generosity and compassion and love, that sounds pretty good to me.
I wish you so much more than happiness in the New Year--I wish you contentment and joy and peace and laughter, to me as vital as oxygen.
As an afterthought, this familiar prayer of St. Francis expresses beautifully the essence of what I was trying to convey, only much more eloquently and succinctly:
A new year.
Anything is possible.
I begin 2007 the way I begin every new year--with open arms, expectant, eager to celebrate both the ordinary and the spectacular. Savoring simplicity, delighting in the ones I love and who love me. Amazed by g r a c e, grateful for my wealth--and that it's not measured in dollars and cents, but by people, relationships, that matter. Imagining what lies ahead, knowing all will not be "good", which is okay, because that's life, and I'm thankful for it. Hopeful for continued transformation...a life of balance and generosity and compassion and love, that sounds pretty good to me.
I wish you so much more than happiness in the New Year--I wish you contentment and joy and peace and laughter, to me as vital as oxygen.
As an afterthought, this familiar prayer of St. Francis expresses beautifully the essence of what I was trying to convey, only much more eloquently and succinctly:
- Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
- where there is hatred, let me sow love;
- where there is injury, pardon;
- where there is doubt, faith;
- where there is despair, hope;
- where there is darkness, light;
- and where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love;
- for it is in giving that we receive,
- it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen.
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27 Comments:
Happy New Year...have a healthy, happy, and safe 2007. I love the prayer. Thank you.
Jeez, don't tell me you're one of those glass half full people!!
Happy New Year to you and your peeps.
Swampy, HNY, greenbuddy;).
WT, is there any other way to pour?? ;) HNY right back to you and yours!
That prayer I learned in highschool... as a song.
It was gorgeous then... even more now.
I'm grateful for the memory and your reminder.
Hi Robin, I am new to your blog.. willowtree thought I may find your blog uplifting and indeed she was right.
Happy New Year to you and your family!
Happy New Year, Robin!!!
What a great way to start off the New Year!
Tonya - who the hell are you calling she!!!
Pamela, upload that for me, k? (But promise me you aren't going to channel Ethel Merman;) ).
Tonya, WELCOME! No matter WHAT WT tells you, I'm perfectly delightful, but I'm glad you visited and were uplifted. She's good for somethin' every now and then :).
WT.........MADE.............MY.............DAY (snorts & giggles). Must've been the pirate panties;).
Love the way you look at the new year - something that we all need to do. . .
Wishing you and yours a wonderful 2007!
Robin, I'm praying for your family & those friends of yours this year -- May God be merciful to you & bless you & cause His face to shine upon you all in the New Year. So be it.
(my paraphrase on Psalm 67:1).
Funny; WT's gender seems to always be a matter of speculation. Hmmm...
Oh, and Robin, thanks so much for the gentle reminder in the prayer of St. Francis. I needed that!! Can you believe that sometimes it's all about me?! Hee!
I love the prayer of St. Francis. I heard it sung by a children's choir at a funeral once and it was really somethin' else. Whew.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for sharing the prayer. Love it.
Love the new year and the clean slate and the possibilities (reminds me of that childhood song - I am a promise, I am a possibility...).
Beautiful!! I love this!
Happy New Year to you, too, Robin!
I raise a Venti Caramel Macchiato to you - CHEERS!
Great prayer. Right back atcha! =)
They always say that "happy" relies on outside circumstances while "joyful and content" rely on what's within.
Your choice, my dear, guarantees a good year.
(Wouldn't argue with a tall, icy glass of happiness by the oceanside though, would ya?)
Amen. That was my favorite prayer as a child, and is still very close to the heart.
Happy New Year Robin! 2007 is going to be fabulous... full of laughter and light. As it should be.
I'mglad to see some people are so positive about the start of a new year. I rarely am!
Greenbuddy ! I love it. Makes me feel as special as Kermit. Just checking on you making sure you didn't recyle yourself. Am still tweaking my Coffee Post...will alert you when it's up. No, I won't...you just have to keep checking for it. <:)
Thank you and Happy New Year to you!
Thanks, Shauna, it's always nice to see your smile around here :).
LCO, I LOVE that benediction...thanks cyberfriend.
Stephanie, give me your freakin' email address. Since you don't have a blog, I can I reply to ya without everyone else watching???! Hmmm, and sometimes it's about me, so I guess we're even ;).
Wow, Ree, I've never heard it sung...how poignant at a funeral ...
Heather, you ought to upload yourself singing that :D.
Oh, Susan....let's clink our CM mugs TOGETHER!!! CHEERS!!!
Thanks Vicki and Sally for stopping in after I stopped in on you after you stopped in on me....;).
Heather, Thanks for dropping by...how'd you find me?
Marnie, agreed.
Emma in Canada...I gotta come visit you and sprinkle some roses and sunshine! I'll pollyanna your behind right out of its negative funk :D.
Swampy.....still sending you cyberhugs, share some with the HansMan.
We woke up on New Years day and said the same things you did: It's a new day. It's an new year. Anything is possible.
One of our favorite stories is about the man who kept searching for the sunken Titanic, until he found it. (Mr. Ballard). Everyday he'd motivate his crew with the words "Today's the day!" My husband was in sales for several years early in our marriage (mainframe computers) and we were always waiting for the "big sale" and the "big check." Every morning before work we'd chant, "Today's the day!" It kept us positive... when we were penniless. God's Word says the same thing. It says, "Today is the day of salvation." Jesus is full of fresh starts, new beginnings, clean slates, and hope for the present and future. What a wonderful God we serve!
Well, I've preached myself happy, Robin. You're a good sounding board. Happy New Year! :~)
Just surfed in from another blog and wanted to comment on your blog's title. I wish I had a place to empty my extra thoughts. It seems as if my mind is always overflowing.
E-mom, sometimes attitude IS everything! Preach yourself happy ANYTIME, cause it leaves ME smiling in the wake :).
Michelle, I've see you and your honey before, but where? Hmmmm. Welcome here, glad you rode a wave over to my place!
Gorgeous post, Robin.
And gorgeous prayer.
Happy New Year!
Although an old prayer by St. Francis - it should be still a prayer for us today...Thank you for sharing :)
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