Happy New Year!

Dear Past,
     Thanks for all the lessons.

Dear Future,
     I am ready.

It's a little after 10pm and Cat and I have just about drawn 2015 to a close. We are both curled up on the sofa very content, I having imbibed my bubbly and she her cream. In taking stock of the old year and in committing myself to resolutions for the new year, I looked for a new year prayer and found the following by Rabbi John L. Rosove, which seems to me to be very appropriate for 2016:

May we hold lovingly in our thoughts
those who suffer from tyranny, subjection, cruelty, and injustice,
and work every day towards the alleviation of their suffering.

May we recognize our solidarity
with the stranger, outcast, downtrodden, abused, and deprived,
that no human being be treated as "other,"
that our common humanity weaves us together
in one fabric of mutuality,
one garment of destiny.

May we pursue the [...] vision of peace,
that we might live harmoniously with each other
and side by side,
respecting differences,
cherishing diversity,
with no one exploiting the weak,
each living without fear of the other,
each revering Divinity in every human soul.

May we struggle against institutional injustice,
free those from oppression and contempt,
act with purity of heart and mind,
despising none, defrauding none, hating none,
cherishing all, honoring every child of God, every creature of the earth.

May [...] all peoples
know peace in this New Year,
And may we nurture kindness and love everywhere.

Amen

Wishing all my kind readers a year of hope, peace, joy and love.