Greetings for a HAPPY NEW YEAR! It seems that I have been in "hibernation mode" since October ~ oh my. Moving to a new city, having a new ministry and living in a new local community has preoccupied me for some time now. I have a couple of months under my belt now and I hope to do better with my posts in 2012 ...My new place of work - St. Joseph Family Center - was closed the week between Christmas and New Years and it has been very much appreciated having the time to "catch up" a little bit with life.
I had a very nice "first" Christmas with my new local community. We invi
ted our other Franciscan Sisters that are in town over for dinner and it was a wonderful time to gather & celebrate Christmas Day, share around the table and pray together.This past week gave me time to connect with some friends in town, get out for some nice walks and a couple great bike rides and just "be" a little bit!
And now we are into a brand new year, filled with hopes and new possibilities! As I was rummaging around my room this morning (I am still trying to settle in and make my space at home mine) I found a prayer "typed" out on a little piece of paper in my Bible. I share with you now:
A Prayer for the New Year (author unknown)
The old year is gone with its joys and its sorrows; Before us are stretching the New Year's tomorrows. Forgive what was thoughtless and wrong in the past, and grant to our virtues the power to last; that we may go forward with gladness, not fear, to a joyful and worthy and blessed New Year."
This little prayer reminds me of a reflection I had last week on one of my frosty Spokane morning walks. I've been trying to take pictures of some of the beautiful sites I am seeing this winter ... stark trees against a blue sky, thick hoar frost on the tree branches, the sun gleaming on the river, and so much more. Sometimes I run into the problem of not having enough memory on my camera to take a shot because I hate to erase pictures that I have taken - even when I have s
aved them on the computer.Perhaps that is like life! We have so many memories stored up in our brains. It is good to keep the happy ones and ones we can learn from, but maybe the the ones that bog us down with resentment, anger, or unpleasantness should be erased so we have room for the good and beautiful. Just a thought as we journey into this new year ... I am finding some new building blocks as I greet 2012 to build some new memories - What about you?! Peace and Blessings
