In the Dark--for Good!

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,

but by strengthening you to bear them as they come;

not by making your path easy,

but by making you sturdy to travel any path;

not by taking hardships from you,

but by taking fear from your heart;

not by granting you unbroken sunshine,

but by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;

not by making your life always pleasant,

but by showing you when people and their causes need you most,

and by making you anxious to be there to help. —Anonymous

I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown”; and he replied, “Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way!” —M.L. Harkins