Let Me Be Joy! (Another Look at the New Year)

 I thought this was supposed to be a new year and a fresh start?  Why does it feel so much like . . . well, 2020?  You know, political turmoil, an out-of-control pandemic, bureaucratic snafus, civil unrest, racial tensions unresolved, economic stress on so many . . . doesn't look very new to me!

But here's the thing.  I can, get so bogged down in that kind of thinking that I fail to take the steps I can to make a difference, a difference in my life, and a difference in the lives of those around me.  I can fall into despair, "Oh mothing changes, nothing ever gets better!" Or, I can work out of hope.

Daily I share a poem and a prayer on Facebook Live, and this morning I read a poem called "A Prayer for Today" by Mary Carolyn Davies.  Born in the late nineteenth century, Davies was a moderately successful poet whose work was even included in Louis Untermeyer's 1921 anthology Modern American Poetry.  She died, however, in extreme poverty in new York City in 1940.  Hers was not always an easy life.

What struck me most about the poem, and why I shared it, is its call for approaching life in a way that would and does make a difference.  The poet asks God to make her "too brave to lie or to be unkind" and "too understanding to mind the little hurts companions give."  Many would call it a simple prayer and a simple poem.  Even simplistic.  Yet I found and find some real strength in it, as she prays, "Let me be joy, be hope!  Let my life sing!"

So let me take another look at 2021 and really give it a chance.  And let me take another look at my own attitude.  For I too can be joy, hope and a song, if I so choose.