New Year

"New Year" 

by Jennifer Hubbard  

There was a time when I would start the New Year by creating a master list that I thought, if I accomplished, would provide the purpose I was seeking in my life. I believed that if my house was organized, if my gardens flourished, or if I finally completed the project, then my soul would settle and life could begin.

Shortly after my little one died, a new year began and the page where the list would have been pored over sat blank. I walked blindly into an uncharted future with nothing to offer but an empty vessel clinging to a mustard seed of hope. When every fibre of my being begged to differ, I would whisper, I know the plans I have in mind for you - it is the Lord who speaks - plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you. (Jeremiah 29:11). At times my whispered declaration was more of a question that he would answer through my brave one's smile, my husband's embrace, or a reminder of Catherine's love. Each answer was a validation that I was placed in that moment for that very moment, and that was all that mattered.

Days have turned into years, and that page where the list would reside remains blank. I can now see that it is in setting aside my will that I am better able to see His. I see each day is a blank slate in which he will provide what I need to live his purpose. While I may not see the purpose in its entirety, it is fulfilling his will for the right now that breathes life anew and settles my soul.

(Jennifer is a writer who resides in Newtown, Connecticut, USA. The younger of her two children, Catherine Violet, was a victim of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012)

Mga Payo sa Bagong Taon

Mga Payo sa Bagong Taon
Ni Hidalgo Del Arrabal

3 P na dapat isabuhay:
Pananampalataya, Pag-asa, Pag-ibig

3 P na dapat paglingkuran:
Panginoong Diyos, pamilya, pamayanan

3 P na dapat hangarin tuwina:
Poong Maykapal, pagkakasundo, pagkakaisa

3 P na dapat pagyamanin:
pagsisikap, pag-iimpok, pagtitimpi

3 P na dapat lawakan o pahabain:
pang-unawa, pananaw, pagpapasenya

3 P na dapat iwasan:
pagmamataas, pag-iimbot, pagkamakasarili

3 P na dapat iwaksi:
pagkagahaman,pagkamalibog, pagkamadaldal

New Year

In countries which use the Gregorian calendar, New Year is usually celebrated on January 1.

The celebration of New Year is a major celebration worldwide even in countries with their own New Year celebrations (e.g., China and India). Let's look at some of the key points about New Year:

1. The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

2. The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, a mythical king of early Rome, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time.

3. In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

4. The Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures have lunar calendars, which is less than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar. Their new year begins at the time of the first full moon (over the Far East) after the sun enters Aquarius- sometime between January 19 and February 21.

5. The most famous song sung during New Year is Auld Lang Syne which is a Scottish folk song which literally means "old long ago," or simply, "the good old days." Written by Robert Burns in 1741, it was first published in 1796 after Burns' death. The song, "Auld Lang Syne," is sung at the stroke of midnight in almost every English- speaking country in the world to bring in the New Year. In spite of the popularity of 'Auld Lang Syne', it has aptly been described as the song that nobody knows. Hardly a gathering sings it correctly (even in Scotland) without some members of the party butchering the words.