I would like to begin this New Year with a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins called “The Gate of the Year (God Knows).”
And I said to the [one] who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And [s]he replied:
“Go out into the [night] and place your hand in the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”
So heart, be still:
What need…our human life to know, if God has comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife of things both high and low,
God seems to hide God’s intention…
The stretch of years which wind ahead, so dim to our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God.
Our fears are premature; In [God], all time has full provision.
Then, rest
Until God moves to lift the veil from our impatient eyes…
God’s thought around [all] creatures [may surprise].
Gracious and merciful God, help our legislature and all of us to believe in this New Year that is given to us—untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands.
Let us know the blessings that accompany our attempts to accomplish those necessary, serious, and great things.—AMEN.
(Adapted from Letters of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1892-1910 by Rainer Maria Rilke.)
