New Year Resolutions

 

Making New Year resolutions has never been a big thing in my book – perhaps I instinctively knew that it was extremely unlikely I would keep any of them!

But the start of a new year, like the turning of a page, does seem to be a good time for starting off on new ventures and making new plans.

A sunny day at Raglan 

Perhaps I might have more success with making resolutions if I followed the advice of Bishop John H. Vincent and reminded myself of them every day.  He was a Methodist minister who died in America in 1920, and in 1909 the Chautauqua Press published this prayer by him in one of their calendars:

“A Resolve for Every Morning of the New Year

I will this day try to live a simple, sincere and serene life, repelling promptly every thought of discontent, anxiety, discouragement, impurity and self-seeking, cultivating cheerfulness, magnanimity, charity, and the habit of holy silence, exercising economy in expenditure, carefulness in conversation, diligence in appointed service, fidelity to every trust and a child-like trust in God.”

I wonder how well he succeeded?

The dawn of a new day

Mittens and I wish you all a safe and happy New Year’s Eve, and a great year in 2024 😊

Margaret.

  

HEADER PHOTO FOR JANUARY 2024

I took this photo in 2008 while on holiday at Papamoa beach in the Bay of Plenty.  It shows the walkway we followed through the sand dunes to reach the white sandy beach and the blue ocean beyond.