This year, may we be kind.
May we be brave.
May we be resilient.
May we listen
More than we talk.
May we give
More than we take.
May we pray
More than we worry.
This year may we be loving.
May we be hopeful.
May we be one.
Artwork – SoulCollage from October, 2021.
For a new year,
A new day,
A new moment
We give thanks.
We yearn for
Happiness and prosperity,
Joy and love,
All the while knowing
That each day brings
What it brings.
Knowing that on some days
We will face
Sadness and injustice,
Grief and despair.
In all, let us be open
To grace and courage,
To trust and longing,
To hope and determination,
As we walk beside you,
Your hands and feet and heart
Of justice, love, and peace
In the world.
May we recognize
Your presence in
Each moment,
Each day,
This year.
This year
May I be strong
May I be flexible
May I bend in the winds
And never break.
This year
May I be wise
May I be humble
May I provide refuge in my arms
For those who are weak.
This year
May I see farther
May I take the long view
May I remember I am
One a part of the whole creation.
This year
May I lift my arms in praise
May I lift my arms in awe
May I remember I am
Beautiful, loved and cherished just as I am.
Find more of my prayers in my book Christ Beside Me, Christ Before Me: Celtic Blessings.
As we look back on the past year and forward to the new, I’m grateful for all of you — those I have met and those I have yet to meet. I’m looking forward to the release of my new book of Celtic-style blessings in February. (Learn more about the book.)
As you bring in the new year, pray this “Blessing of the New Year” from the Scottish Highlands gathered and written down by Alexander Carmichael in the late 1800s. (I have updated the language of the prayer.) “This poem was repeated the first thing on the first day of the year. It was common throughout the Highlands and Islands.”
Beannachadh Bliadhna Uir
God, bless to me the new day,
Never bestowed to me before;
It is to bless your own presence
You have given me this time, O God.Bless to me my eye,
May my eye bless all it sees;
I will bless my neighbor,
May my neighbor bless me.God, give me a clean heart,
Let me not from sight of your eye;
Bless to me my family,
And bless to me my means and my home.Carmina Gadelica, Volume 1, by Alexander Carmichael, [1900], at sacred-texts.com
Blessings to all on this new year.
Beth
With gratitude for this day
for this year
for this life.
May I be open to memories,
good and bad,
celebrating the things
I have learned,
the love I have given,
the lives I have enriched.
And may I let go of
shortcomings I have discovered,
mistakes I have made,
the smallness of my heart.
Let me carry into the new year
only the things I must bring,
whether they be hopes or regrets,
joys or sorrows.
Help me shed what I can
before the new journey begins.
Walk with me in integrity,
in loving-kindness,
in hospitality,
in love.
May I be a friend,
a loving companion,
a blessing to those along the way.
I am yours.
All the Wonders 