Happy New Year To You All

Anticipating the film “The King’s Speech” [which blogreader Vivien has already seen, over in the USA, and has pronounced good!] I was reminded of His Majesty’s words back in 1939,when he quoted the poem by Minnie Louise Haskins, a modest Sunday school teacher in Bristol.

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 .

 

It was an inspired choice – suggested by the King’s wife, and so appropriate for a nation facing the horrors of WW2.

You can read more about the poem here

The poem’s final stanzas [rarely quoted now] are these…

 

God knows. His will is best.

The stretch of years which wind ahead, so dim

To our imperfect vision, are clear to God.

Our fears are premature.

In Him all time hath full provision.

Then rest; until God moves to lift the veil

From our impatient eyes,

When, as the sweeter features of life's stern face we hail,

Fair beyond all surmise,

God's thought around His creatures our minds shall fill.

Whatever 2011 throws at us, may we find strength and comfort in this truth

God knows. His will is best