New Year Blessings

A church in Charleston, 2009

And 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."

So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.

And He led me toward the hills and the breaking of day . . .

from "God Knows" by Minnie Louise Haskins
Published 1908
Popularly known as "The Gate of the Year"