friday five: a fresh start

At RevGals Sally writes: As I prepare this post I am aware that it will be posted on New Years Day. We stand at the beginning of 2010 looking not only at a New Year, but at a new decade full of promise and possibilities. For some of us this will be exciting, but others will approach it with trepidation and probably most of us stand on this threshold with a mix of emotions and reactions.It is at this time of year that many (British) Methodist Churches celebrate their Annual Covenant Service, a service that will include this prayer:

I am no longer my own but yours,
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now glorious and blessed God,
Father , Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.
May it be so forever.
Let this covenant now made on earth
be fulfilled in heaven. AMEN

This prayer is said every year, and offers every member an opportunity to renew their covenant with God. This is no soft or easy prayer, it states in the company of others our willingness to worship God come what may, not that we should become doormats, but that we place God above all else. ( And every year if we are honest we have to acknowledge that we fail).With this prayer in mind I bring you this Friday Five:

1. What will you gladly leave behind in 2009?
The consequences of my husband closing his business. Unnecessary hurt.

2. What is the biggest challenge of 2010 for you?
It looks like I'm going to be the only breadwinner for an indefinite time. My biggest challenge will be meeting that challenge.

3. Is there anything that you simply need to hand to God and say "all will be well, for you are with me"?
Funny, I basically prayed this last night when I went to bed. There are a host of demons in my husbands past that have caused him a lot of hurt. Not addressing those hurts in a healthy way is a catching up with him. I can be a companion and encourager to him in facing that vulnerability and dealing with it but I cannot do it for him. Leaving that to God is very necessary. But oh, I want to help.

4. If you could only achieve one thing in 2010 what would it be?
Reaching the end of the year in better shape than we are beginning it.

5. Post a picture, poem or song that sums up your prayer for the year ahead....
My favorite, favorite poem includes these opening verses:

I said to the Man who stood at the gate of the year,
"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he 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."
Minnie Louise Haskins, made famous by George VI when recited during a Christmas broadcast in 1939