It’s good to look back but we must never be tempted to remain there

THE inevitable reviews of 2021 dominated the media and the press this past weekend. There’s no doubt that the pandemic and the latest Omicron variant will continue to be the leading story of the new year.

Internationally Russian President Vladimir Putin has been sabre rattling on the borders of the Ukraine and seems to be holding the card when it comes to gas supplies which, in terms of cost, will mean an extra burden for many families in the coming months.

At the close of the year the news of the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu reminded us of a man of faith and great fortitude. Always the pacemaker, his ministry of reconciliation was pivotal in opening a new era in South Africa. It was a joy to welcome him to Wales and to meet with him in 1986.

Personally 2021 may have been for us a year of mixed blessings, a combination of times to remember and circumstances we would prefer to forget. Occasions when everything went our way, of fun and friendship. Then again, illness, the loss of a loved one, a broken relationship or redundancy may have cast a shadow and feelings of disappointment and hurt remain. It’s good to look back but we must never be tempted to remain there. Rather to learn from those times we would prefer to forget and to build on those good experiences which give us confidence and renewed hope for the new year that now opens up before us.

The year ahead is, of course, unchartered territory for us all. None of us know what even the next minute holds and yet there’s the sure promise that God is with us and we do not face the future alone. In his 1939 Christmas Day broadcast to a troubled nation King George VI concluded his nine-minute broadcast with a poem which must have brought encouragement and comfort to all who listened. For us, living in an uncertain world they remain words of hope and assurance. “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’.” May that same Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all this New Year.