People have become accustomed to saying “Happy New Year” as an inaugural phrase to celebrate the beginning of a year, and of course this is a fitting expression, for we hope that life brings happiness in the forthcoming days…but what if it does not?

I remember reading an article at the end of 2007 written by a woman (she is now a friend) who lost her adult daughter in a car accident that same year, when we lost Judson.   She described how the adage “Happy New Year” no longer fit her life experience.  Instead she used what felt like a more fitting phrase — “Have a Hopeful New Year!”

Fitting, indeed!  Whatever life may bring, whether joy, pain, sorrow, triumph, blessing, trials, or happiness, I want to experience genuine hope.

So, I wish for 2010 to bring much happiness, but whatever may come, may it be a year full of hope.

Have a Hopeful New Year!