The Dark Gate

In 1939, Hitler's armies marched across Europe, and England's future looked very dark. On Christmas Day, a week before the beginning of the new year, King George VI addressed his people and urged them to have faith and to trust in God. He quoted them a poem, the story of which is basically this:

Courtesy Google.com

A man was standing in front of a gate, which represented the new year. It looked very dark inside the gate. An angel stood next to the man, and the man said to the angel, "It is awfully dark in there. I can't see anything through the gate. Give me a light so that I may tread safely into the unknown."

The angel replied, "Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way. Enter through the gate into the new year without fear. The Lord will be with you."

So the man went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And God led him toward the hills and the breaking of day.

The future can indeed be very dark sometimes. The news is full of frightening prognostications. Whether we are entering into a new year or a new day or a new experience, what we need to do is to put our hand into the Hand of God, have faith in Him, and trust Him completely. Then we can enter into the future without fear, knowing that He is with us.

The Apostle Paul had come to the last days of his life. He was alone and in prison, awaiting his execution for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the midst of those trying circumstances he wrote what was probably the last letter he would pen to his son in the faith and coworker in the ministry, Timothy. Was he disheartened? Was he depressed? No! In that hour he could write words that would ring down through the centuries and encourage all those who read them:

Courtesy Google.com

Are you in a dark place today? Do you know that same certainty that Paul knew? You can As the old gospel song says, simply "put your hand in the hand of the Man who stilled the waters." He is standing right there beside you with His hand outstretched, just waiting for you to slip your hand into His. He knows the way. He's walked it himself. And He will guide you safely Home.

Recipe for a Happy New Year

On this eve of the New Year, a brand new year stretches ahead of us like a clean canvass just waiting for us to touch the brush to the palette, choose the colors, and splash on the paint. We make New Year's resolutions with great expectations, but because of past failures, we hesitate fearfully on the threshold of this New Year.

Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain during World War II and a man of many talents, became an accomplished artist. When he set out to paint, he chose oils as his medium so that whatever he painted would last for the ages.

Sir Winston Churchill relaxed by painting.
Courtesy Google.com

He asked his wife, Clementine, to purchase the materials he would need. When everything was assembled, the next step was to begin.

A prolific writer, he later described his feelings of looking at the white canvas in front of him. Beads of paint glistened on his new palette, and the empty brush in his hand was poised irresolute in the air. "My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto."

He knew that the sky should be at the top of the page, and sky was a pale blue. To achieve that color, he mixed a tiny bit of blue with white and cautiously made a mark the size of a pea on that intimidating snow-white canvas.

"It was a challenge, a deliberate challenge, but so subdued, so halting...that it deserved no response," he wrote.

At that moment, he heard an automobile in the driveway and out stepped his neighbor, a gifted painter. Clementine had called her.

She strode to the canvas and asked, "What are you hesitating about? Let me have a brush--a big one."

She splashed it into turpentine, swished it vigorously into the blue and white, and sprawled the paint across the canvas in huge, almost savage strokes.

Churchill wrote, "The spell was broken." Delighted, he knew he had discovered his style. This was how he lived. This was how he would paint. He became a fearless and gaudy painter, for he fell in love with the brilliant colors and felt sorry for the dull browns.

Let's approach this New Year with that same kind of fearless exhilaration, knowing that each day is the day that the Lord has made, so we can rejoice and be glad in it (Psalm 118:24).

Here's a recipe I found for a happy new year:

Take 12 whole months. Clean them thoroughly of all bitterness, hate, and jealousy. Make them just as fresh and clean as possible.

Cut each month into 28, 30, or 31 different parts, but don't make up the whole batch at once. Prepare it one day at a time with these ingredients:

Into each day mix well one part of faith, one part of patience, one part of courage, and one part of work. 

Add to each day one part of hope, faithfulness, generosity, and kindness. 

Blend with one part prayer, one part meditation, and one good deed. 

Season the whole with a dash of good spirit, a sprinkle of fun, a pinch of play, and a cupful of good humor.

Pour all of this into a vessel of love. Cook thoroughly over radiant joy, garnish with a smile, and serve with quietness, unselfishness, and cheerfulness.

If you follow these instructions carefully, you're bound to have a happy new year!

May I recommend some encouraging, faith-building reading for the new year?
Frontiers of Faith, Till the Storm Passes By, A Star to Steer By. Click on the titles to learn more about these books and how to order them.