Five Ideas for the New Year

With a calendar in hand,
Next year’s boxes in view,
For practical planning
Here’s five ideas for me, for you.

My Top Ten Suggestions for a Better Year Ahead

 1. Take care of what matters to you.
 2. Be thankful for what you’ve got.
 3. Watch for improvements you can adopt and adapt.
 4. Spend time on what brings a twinkle to your eyes.

Take a Look

A Look at New Year's Eve,
With Suggestions for New Year's Day

Will it be another grand occasion,
A New Year’s celebration,
A putting-on an attitude, party-on time?

Will there be parades for viewing,
Football games, and over-doing,
All the sociable expectations that come to mind?

Or will there be time for introspection,
Honest sizing-up intentions,
Looking for a sincerely spiritual point of view?

Could we look past the drinking, eating,
the people that we’re meeting,
not neglecting what’s most important for anyone to do?

We could pause for reflection,
Confess we’ve missed perfection,
Gratefully consider how greatly God has been blessing you.

Learn from situations of the past,
Forgive each other now, at last,
And schedule in time to daily pray and read God’s Word, too.

So, let’s go past the decorations,
The New Year’s speculations,
Despite the troubles looming all around the world we see.

Let’s choose to have a brand-new Year
With confidence, not fear,
Trusting and walking with the Lord obediently.

by Elaine Hardt ©2006

No Leftovers Today

Christmas took all my energies;
     it used up all my time.
My pocketbook is busted;
     I'm down to my last dime.

At church last night I heard the news
     my heart was glad to hear;
There's a way-out Way to happiness
     and God is very near.

Leftovers are the only thing
     that I have plenty of;
But God doesn't send leftovers
     when He gives us His love.

The Lord's gift is salvation
     so I gave Him my heart;
The New Year looks brighter, and
   off to a better start.

I said goodbye to leftovers
   of stress and aggravation;
I'm part of God's family now
     in joyful celebration.

by Elaine Hardt ©1994

The Remarkable Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas
and in the shopping mall
crowds of children waved goodbye as
jolly Santa left the hall.

Harried parents dashed out of the stores
clutching their bags of toys
and gathered up their waiting youngsters,
the happy girls and boys.

Then off to the church they went
just across the street
for the children's evening program
and the promise of a treat.

Eleanor's Reluctant Gift

A lovely day for shopping. Here in Harold’s up-scale department store at least the décor had not slummed into that tacky Christmas look. The staff always wore a professional black and the only nod to the season were the thousands of tiny silver tinsels draped over bare manzanita branches in huge, stark white pots. Classical music was not intrusive; the aisles were not cluttered with harried shoppers. It suited Eleanor just right.

“Mrs. Brill, oh Mrs. Brill,” the lilting voice behind the Mistique makeup counter caught her attention.

“Constance?” the matron turned from the new display of flavored lip gloss. Reading the expression of the girl, she instantly softened. “Yes?”

“Mrs. Brill, begging your pardon, but we’ve all been looking for you. That is, we’ve been expecting to hear from you.” Words tumbled out with sweet concern.

Your Last Christmas

No sooner had Emmett pulled his ’89 Chevvie into the driveway, than he heard the voice. “This is your last Christmas.”

Startled, he exclaimed, “Dang, I must’ve bumped that radio knob again,” but as he reached over he was surprised to find the radio wasn’t on. A baffled look crossed his weathered face as he turned off the ignition and slowly climbed out of the truck. Standing there in November’s chill morning he was suddenly in charge. With emphatic deliberation he strode to the front door and entered the house.

A strong cup of coffee later he sat at the kitchen table and scratched out a list of To Do on a yellow tablet. It looked like his response to the puzzling voice was to ignore it and double his efforts at keeping busy. After all, it was Friday.