May Eternity born at Christmas Eve
Fill thy heart with happiness true
In the lingering year and the new.
By Paramhansa Yogananda
Our old tutor of last year has just passed away. Let us remember the joyous instructions and blissful experiences of the past year, and let us repeat them with greater intensity in the coming New Year. Let us forget the sorrows of the past and make up our minds not to bring them back in the coming New Year. With new determination and unflinching will, let us make up our mind to renew our life, our better habits, and our successes in the temple of the New Year. If the last year has been hopelessly bad, the New Year must be hopefully good.
Remember, no matter what our trials have been, or how discouraged we are, if we will make a continued effort to be better, we will find that, being made in the image of God, we are endowed with unlimited power that is much stronger than our worst trials. Let us make up our minds that we will win, focusing all our concentration on the ceaseless efforts to succeed, and we will surely be victorious.
Remember that our past difficulties did not come to crush us but to strengthen our determination to use our limitless divine powers to succeed. God wants us to conquer the difficult tests of life and come back to His home of wisdom. Let us return in this New Year.
From Talks and Articles by Paramhansa Yogananda, 1938
Below is something that we used to do as a family, starting on New Year’s Day, preparing for the birthday of Paramhansa Yogananda on January 5. – Mary Kretzmann
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