“What are you doing New Year’s Eve?”
We hear those lyrics by Frank Loesser a lot this time of year. And, despite it being a love song, it’s a good question. One that I’ve answered differently throughout my life.
As a kid and young adult, it was often spent at our Quaker church, which held a “Watch Night Service”—games and refreshments leading up to a worship service at midnight. Then, for about twenty years, we celebrated with our daughter Laura and her husband, Michael, and their growing family.
These days, the celebration is quieter. Just Nancy and me at home with a nice dinner and watching old movies and going to bed and sleeping in the new year.
As I drift off, though, I often do a personal “year in review.” I look at the highs and the lows. The joys and sorrows. The new life born into our family . . . and the dearly departed.
And then I think of the year ahead. What will it bring? I wonder. Or I make plans for the new year—and remind myself that it is impossible to predict. A pandemic. A year of joy and reconciliation? And I think, Do I stick with fear? Or move forward with hope?
My faith tells me to move forward with hope. To trust in the living Word of God—and let Him be a light unto my path.
O God of the Past, Present, and Future, it is in You that I put my trust. Walk close with me in this coming year so that I might always keep my eyes of faith on You. Amen.
—J. Brent Bill
