“Redeeming the time, because the days are evil”

There was an ancient custom of putting an hour glass into the coffin of the dead to signify that their time had run out. Better to put the hour glass into the hand of every living man, woman and child, and show them the grains of time are slowly but steadily slipping away. Eventually all shall be gone.

We all complain of the shortness of time, and yet we have more time than we know what to do with. Our lives are often spent either doing nothing at all, or doing nothing that will last. We often rush time - waiting for something to come - while neglecting what is. A songwriter named John Lennon aptly wrote, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” We are always complaining that our days are too few, and acting as though there is no end to them.

But, I can feel the winds of change blowing for 2016. I can feel a fruitful year coming. Can’t you? Happy New Year, Beloved of God. Here is a wonderful poem of encouragement.

Another year I enter, it’s history unknown;

Oh, how my feet would tremble to tread its paths alone!

But I have heard a whisper, I know I shall be blessed;

“My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.”

What will the New Year bring me? This I do not know;

Will it be love and rapture or loneliness and woe?

Hush! Hush! I hear His whisper; I surely shall be blessed;

“My presence shall go with thee, and I will give the rest."