How to create a wonderful new year

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale

Ralph Waldo Emerson suggested that one should write on his heart that every year can be the best year he ever lived. Therefore I'd like to give you a text for the New Year. It wouldn't be a bad idea to write it down somewhere so you could consult it now and then. But it is so short that all you need to do is write it on your consciousness.

This will see you through the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, and the end of the year. It is the first four words with which the Bible begins: "In the beginning God . . ." (Genesis 1:1) Take Him at the start and you will have a wonderful time in the New Year. And then follow these steps.

1. Practice the art of forgetting.
Man is what he remembers, but man is also what he forgets. One of the healthiest things a human being can do is to become a master of forgetting. Whatever you do, don't lug your resentments, your hates, your frustrations, your disappointments, your regrets into the new year. Forge ahead! It is a great art to know how to forget. Drop it, skip it, let it go--whatever it is. Start anew.

2. Take hold of the new year and shake the life out of it.
Drop the 't' off forget and forge ahead, on the basis of the text "In the beginning God . . ." Live a day at a time and take it as it comes. Have you seen a calendar for the new year? Well, you know something? In order to get to January 2nd you have to live through January 1st. Live a day at a time and live on the basis of easy does it. Don't get too worked up about it. Just take it as it comes.

3. Expect great things and put your life in God's hands.
Have high hopes, have great dreams, have great belief. See visions and believe in them. Believe that life is good and that it is going to be better and the best is yet to come. You know something? You are very likely to get just what you expect.

Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for life, for this precious wonder, with all its hopes, its dreams, and its opportunities. Help us to put our hands in Thine trustingly and help us to live by the text, "In the beginning God..." Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


This article was adapted from a booklet by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.