Dear Friends
A very Happy and Peaceful New Year to you all. I hope you had a good Christmas and did not indulge too much!! If you are anything like me there just might need to be a little, only a little mind you, loosening of the belt until some renewed exercise brings things back under control.
I have to confess that I am not a New Years Resolutions sort of person. I find that the process of gradual failure of one resolution after another is definitely not good for ones self esteem. In the cold light of a bleak January morning it so often seems better not to have been too enthusiastic about promised changes of lifestyle. What I find myself doing instead of making New Years Resolutions is drawing up an imaginary wish list of things I would like to see happen, or not to happen, depending on the situation. A sort of New Years magic wand type of list which I thought I would share with you. My ten wishes for this year of our Lord two thousand and nine.
So here goes, in no particular order!! I wish for……..
….. A change in leadership in Zimbabwe.
An end to conflict in Afghanistan.
Peace between Jew and Palestinian in Israel
Food for every hand that is held out in hunger.
Justice for all that seek it.
An end to the economic crisis and a better use of our wealth.
Children to be safe and happy the world over.
Global warming to be taken seriously.
Health and happiness for my family and families everywhere.
Those who were in Church over Christmas to go again before next Christmas!
Well what do you think of my list? How would it compare with yours? At the beginning of this year if all of us were to draw up a list and then spend the rest of the year trying to make at least some of it happen then the world might, just might, be a better place for us and for everyone to live in. If you did nothing else you could at least use the list as a reminder of things to regularly pray about.
Couldn’t happen? Well it is worth remembering that we have just celebrated the anniversary of the birth of a man who, with twelve friends, changed the course of the world forever and, with our help, can continue to do so this year. It might be a good idea to keep our own list of ten wishes for 2009 and at the end of the end of the year go back to it and see how many have happened/changed and, perhaps more importantly, how many we have been able to influence even if it was only in the tiniest of ways.
God bless you, your wishes, and those you love,
John Baxter