New Year's Day Is Every Man's Birthday

Into the New Year
Friday’s Reflection

TAKE ME INTO A NEW YEAR, Gracious God. Help me to continue looking for meaning, seeking peace, praying for light, dancing for joy, working for justice, and singing your praise. I go into the new year filled with expectations, a touch of worry, and a bundle of hope. I do not journey into the new year alone but with you as my guide, with a commitment to my disciplines, with a community of family, friends, and faith. Take me into the new year, Creator of beauty and wonder. Bless me with the companionship of Jesus, and gift me with the guidance and power of the Spirit. Amen.
- Larry James Peacock
Openings: A Daybook of Saints, Psalms, and Prayer

It is 16 degrees, wind chill - cold.  It is so brilliant - so eye piercingly clear outside this morning.  A perfect ending of mornings in the year 2010.  The sun is basking this valley for all of it's might, but warmth will not be found outside today.  There will, however, be plenty of warmth indoors. 
Pancakes and bacon for breakfast with dear, dear friends this morning.  Jeff and Lisa came to our house to spend time. How mighty is their gift of love and friendship!  So far, I've managed to scare the pants off of them - I turned left on a red arrow.  It was completely clear you must understand....and they said in some form, you MUST understand you scared the bejeepers out of us!  I will leave the driving to Jim or Lisa and Jeff for the remainder of their stay. 
I may or may not have night time asthma.  Albuterol helped tremendously, so I'll stick with it for a few days and see how things go.  My breathing has been labored, however, my pulse/ox levels are amazingly high.  So we muddle through these little mysteries. 
Again, I want to say thank you to all of you - for your comments on the blog and off the blog, for your love through prayer, through means I have no clue about, for your beautiful bounty of cards and calls.  For laughing with me/us, for sharing a load of heart ache this year.  For standing in the gap, for reminding me how much God loves and cares for all of us and for being my friends.  What a bounty.  When Jesus told the disciples to throw out their net on the other side of the boat - their net was so full of fish, it snapped.  That is how I feel about you.  My net is full and overflowing.
Thank you for being a part of a year that is still filled with mysteries and tears, love and laughter.  I hope you will continue on with me.  My journey in this land of cancer is not over.  Year 2 of colon cancer is a year filled with tests and concerns.  For this is the year colon cancer seems to like to find a new place to hang out.  I pray that I have not hat pegs for it to hang it's hat on and that God is in the process of healing me fully.  Our Father does hear our pleas and knows the hidden places in our hearts. 
"O the Fount of Every blessing, fill our hearts...".
Happy New Year - with love and prayers for God to fill every corner of your lives. 
Love and Best Wishes!
kathryn
(title quote: Charles Lamb)