In the Hand of God

Welcome, welcome 2012 - a glorious new year filled with opportunity and hope. 

The poem,"The Gate of the Year" was published in 1908. It became well-loved when Queen Elizabeth handed a copy to her husband King George VI, and he quoted it in his 1939 Christmas Broadcast in the early days of World War II.

These inspirational words remained a source of comfort to the Queen for the rest of her life. She had them engraved on brass plaques and fixed to the gates of the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, where the King was interred. The Queen Mother was also buried there in 2002, and "The Gate of the Year" was read at her state funeral.

The Gate of the Year

I said to the man who stood at the gate of the New 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 in the hand of God

-that shall be better than light

 and safer than a known way."

                                                                                      --Minnie Louise Haskins

New Year Sunrise - Haleakala