A poet’s prayer on New Year’s Eve

Lord, as this dying year
gasps its final breaths,
I am mourning
squandered choices and wasted time
that have marked this season of my life.
Forgive me, Father!

All the same I am celebrating
a new year about to be born!
With this birth announcement,
I am motivated by the beauty
of an unblemished calendar
and the promise of new opportunities
yet to be embraced.

Thank You, God, for not defining me
by the things I have carelessly left undone
or by the actions I have selfishly pursued.
How grateful I am that You see me
through the filter of what I one day will become.

As I cradle this newborn year
and gaze into its potential,
please help me bury regrets of the past twelve months.
In so doing would You also raise to life
those hopes within me
that have slumbered in a deathlike sleep
for far too long.

Although the graveyard of good intentions
may be punctuated with headstones
that call to mind failed attempts at reaching dreams,
I refuse to grieve as one who has no hope.

With the stroke of midnight
comes the ring of Easter truth.
Thanks to an empty tomb,
death (in all its forms) has been trumped by life.
Lifeless resolutions are animated once again
by the breath of grace
and the ability to start anew.

Enable me, Lord,
to be purposeful and focused
in this new year
as I look to You for daily guidance
and dance with the blessings that come my way. Amen.