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.

God's Gas Station

I was tooling along in my ’54 Ford this morning when I noticed a flashing light on the dashboard. Oooops! Looks like she’s running low on gas. Taking a quick detour from Procrastination Boulevard I headed out to God’s Gas Station.

After filling up at the first pump I dashed into God’s 24 Hour Convenience Store to settle up for the fuel. Impulsively, I decided to pick up a few other necessities.

A Peek at God's Daily Plan Book

It was early, and the office was quiet. I settled into my chair, and opened my daily appointment and plan book. Nearly every line had a notation, some more urgent than others. Call today! Reschedule Appointment! Write plans! Submit plans!

Yes, there was a 30 minute break, penciled in as “20 minute aerobics in company gym.” Lunch would be at Zombini’s, but there’d be a salesman meeting with me to discuss a new project. Afternoon would be a real killer — a delegation from our southern region factory for “show and tell.” After that, a detailed report for the boss, placed on his desk before leaving for the day.

On the one hand, several of the items positively energized me. I could hardly wait to try my hand with the prototype mechanism dreamed up by the youthful guys and gals in the technology department. And lunch out would be preferable to another tuna sandwich, concocted and refrigerated overnight, resulting in soggy bread.

“God, what a day!” I mumbled.

Winter's Possibilities

Hunker down or venture out?
That’s winter’s perplexity,
There’s positives and negatives
in winter’s possibilities.

How bad will the weather get?
And how long will that last?
Can we make it to the store
Or wait until the storm is past?

An artist will see the beauty
While you and I shovel snow;
When mama snaps the photographs
Our rosy cheeks aglow.

Bundled up from head to toe,
Kids enjoying snowy days;
Sledding, skiing, skating,
Winter fun in many ways.

Winter settles in awhile,
But soon we’ll hope for spring;
Trusting God for endurance,
Taking time for remembering.

By Elaine Hardt ©2009

Learning from Experience, Yours & Theirs

Congratulations on living as long as you have! You must have learned a lot of things, by now. Have you thought about this: what you now know may be interesting or helpful to someone else?

And consider this: many of us have thrown away a lesson we once learned, simply because we never thought it through, and we have never written it down. We struggled, survived, but then forgot it.

If we’ve coped with some calamity, but haven’t analyzed the situation, then there’s a big chance that we may face another calamity and have to learn the hard way, again. To profit from our past experiences we need to make sense of the cause and effect.

Tensions, temptations and transitions come to all. None of us will live long enough to make all the mistakes and learn all the lessons first-hand. Learning from experiences — good and bad — of others can save us a lot of time!

Expectations

The invitation arrived in a pure white envelope, embossed with gold with a stunning red logo; it fairly exuded opulence and I was impressed. So it was that on that night I drove down a country lane, expecting to see a large estate aglow with Christmas lights. Ah, lifestyles of the rich and famous, here I come. Perhaps valet parking? I’d selected the nicest outfit I had in the closet, and felt fairly assured that I could muster enough confidence to fit in with the holiday gathering. My expectations had risen to a tingling new height. I probably smiled all the way up the Interstate.

Sure enough, there were glittering lights, but only on a handrail, leading up some steps to a rather modest looking mobile home.

Order Now for Christmas

Step right up, place your order here.
No hassle, no strain,
No confusion on the brain.

An old Christmas? A new Christmas?
A decorator holiday?
You can order what you may.

Laid-back or a lot of fun?
but -- Santa's not the one --
Check in with your Father, as you should;
His Christmas plans are always good!

Jesus came to be your friend,
So Christmas never needs to end
for He is always near.

— Elaine Hardt ©1993

It's That Time of Year Again

The days have added up to December,
We barely got acquainted with November.

Now decorating is the thing to do;
I’m nearly worn out, how about you?

But the Christmas spirit is in the air,
We hope the weather will be fair.

We’ve tried hard not to spend too much,
Yet wanted again that festive touch.

We made a list and checked it twice,
Planned everything to turn out nice.

Quiet moments we’ve had so few,
Still here is wishing the best for you.

A potpourri of holiday writing,
Then a fond wish for season’s delighting.

If I could, I would give you the time
and read to you this writing of mine.

Nevertheless, you’re on your own,
Hope you’ll enjoy it when you’re alone.

A meaningful, marvelous celebration so bright,
Remembering God’s gift to us on that long-ago night.

By Elaine Hardt ©2009