“And during the New Year may you have:
enough happiness to keep you sweet – enough trials to keep you strong,
enough sorrow to keep you human – enough hope to keep you happy,
enough failure to keep you humble – enough success to keep you eager,
enough friends to give you comfort – enough wealth to meet your needs,
enough enthusiasm to make you look forward to tomorrow, and
enough determination to make each day better than the day before.”
–Melvin Newland
Obviously, the key word in that whole wish, or prayer, is “enough”. For me, personally, I struggle wanting to have “enough” of anything. That is for God to decide in His infinite wisdom, mercy and grace. Frankly, if I had a magic looking glass to see what “enough” looks like to Him I would probably be very disappointed. Who am I to try to guess what is “enough”? Enough prayer. Enough money. Enough generosity to those less fortunate. I’m not sure I to have that conversation with God, asking Him, “is that enough? Um, how about now?”
I’d rather not be standing before God and have Him say I did just enough. My goal in this life should be to exceed His expectations; never settling for enough, the minimum. I don’t want just a passing grade. I want balloons and confetti and trumpets.
May God richly bless you in the New Year, and as you look back on the past year, with its trials and joys, may you realize ours is a God who wants to reveal His abundant glory and grace and power in our lives. May your heart see how He has blessed you and those around you. Some times I struggle to see Him, to touch Him, in my crowded life. I want daily to touch even just the hem of His garment so His power comes into my life, His faith healing me (Luke 8:40-49). Each day is an opportunity to draw nearer to Him, to bath in His abundance. I can never have enough of Him.
May you never settle for “enough”. In fact, I like Newland’s words much better if I take out each “enough”, and preface them with God’s blessing:
“And during the New Year may God bless you with:
happiness to keep you sweet – trials to keep you strong,
sorrow to keep you human – hope to keep you happy,
failure to keep you humble – success to keep you eager,
friends to give you comfort – wealth to meet your needs,
enthusiasm to make you look forward to tomorrow, and
determination to make each day better than the day before.”
–Melvin Newland
Much better words, still some ambiguity though. Not all inclusive of God’s desire for me, for you, but pretty good.