Happy New Year 2012

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012! What will 2012 bring? It lies before us as an unexplored continent...full of uncertainty but also full of possibilities.

I love to quote the eight lines of poetry below to illustrate the fact that the difficulties of life are often used by God to teach us important life lessons. This has been true in my own life. It began at the age of nine, when I stood at the bedside of my dying father and witnessed the Christian peace and love that, not only sustained him, but gave him joy in the midst of death. I remembered; "when I grow up, I want to be that kind of Christian."

"I walked a mile with pleasure,
She chatted all the way.
But left me none the wiser,
For all she had to say.
I walked a mile with sorrow
And n'er a word said she.
But Oh the things I learned from her,
When sorrow walked with me."

~Robert Browning Hamilton~

A few years ago a piece with a similiar theme passed through the internet. It was tiltled "I wish you Enough."

This is something to think about as we began a New Year, "I wish you Enough". Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said "I love you and I wish you enough." The daughter replied, "Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom."

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry.

I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking "Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?"

"Yes, I have, "I replied. "Forgive me for asking but why is this a forever good-bye?"

"I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral," she said.

"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?" She began to smile. "That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations.
My parents used to say it to everyone." She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. "When we said 'I wish you enough' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them." Then turning toward me she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory --

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough faith in God to get you through the final good-bye."

To all my friends and loved ones,
I WISH YOU ENOUGH...A HAPPY NEW YEAR OF GRACE AND PEACE.
Ruth<><