There are two ways to approach the last week of the year. One is to look back and bemoan or celebrate the year, depending on your politics and view of the world; the other is to look forward and to see how to shape the year to come, which goes beyond politics for shaping our futures also requires how we look at ourselves and each other.
Examining how we have developed over the year can be a daunting task, to be sure. It requires us to consider our relationship to those we love, our own physical limitations, and our relationship to our faith and core beliefs. Most, if not all of us, started this year with certain goals and objectives in mind, and like many of us, I certainly wonder how I have met or not met those goals, those internal targets I set for myself.
Looking ahead, thinking of the year to come, some of us have had to do a reset in light of life changes. But dealing with such changes also can give us the opportunity to consider more carefully what our goals should be. This is not done in isolation, however, but within the community we share with each other. As we begin to look forward to 2026, let us better cement our lives within the community of the wider world, the world created by God for all of us.
Prayer for the Day
So many little things preoccupy us, O God,
Drawing us apart so we do not center ourselves on you;
From all that comforts us, O Holy One, discomfort us,
Opening our hearts to the cries of the world outside.
Move us from our failure of ourselves and of you,
So we are able share your grace with the world around.
In the name of the One who opens us to your grace,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Learn from yesterday, live for today, and hope for tomorrow.
Albert Einstein, theoretical physicist, refugee (1879-1955)
I read and walked for miles along the beach writing bad blank verse and searching endlessly for someone wonderful to step out of the darkness and change my life. It never crossed my mind that that person could be me.
Anna Quindlen, American writer
Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds;
For riches do not last forever, nor a crown for all generations.
When the grass is gone, and new growth appears
And the herbage of the mountains is gathered,
The lambs will provide your clothing, and the goats the price of a field;
There will be enough goats’ milk for your household.
Proverbs 27: 23-27