A prayer for a new year

“God of history and of my heart,

so much has happened during these whirlwind days;

I’ve known death and birth;

I’ve been brave and scared;

I’ve hurt, I’ve helped;

I’ve been honest, I’ve lied;

Oh, God!!
Help me to believe in beginnings
and in my beginning again,
no matter how often I have failed before.
Help me to make beginnings;
to begin going out of my weary mind into fresh dreams,
daring to make my own bold tracks in the land of now;
to begin forgiving, that I might experience mercy;
to begin questioning the unquestionable, that I may know truth;
to begin disciplining, that I might create beauty;
to begin sacrificing, that I might accomplish justice;
to begin risking, that I might make peace;
to begin loving, that I might realise joy.Help me to be a beginning for others,
to be a singer to the songless,
a storyteller to the aimless,
a befriender of the friendless;
to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,
of assurance for the doubting,
of reconciliation for the divided;
to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing,
of friendship for the forgotten;
to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured,
of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken,
of peace for the frightened and violated of the earth.

Help me to believe in beginnings,
to make a beginning,
to be a beginning,
so that I may not just grow old,
but grow new
each day…”