To many of us, 2016 has been…difficult…but there is always HOPE – Happy New Year to all

To many of us, 2016 has been…difficult…but there is always HOPE – Happy New Year to all

With 2016 passing on, many social media comments are saying a gleeful goodbye to the year.

Alongside the unusual political situations of western society that have created severe divisions, perhaps most disconcerting has been the sheer abundance of unnatural deaths – heart failure, cancer, drug overdose, and suicides to name a few of the types of tragedy.

Some would argue that the increase in unnatural deaths is not an increase at all; it’s only because we have social media now; therefore, we’re receiving all the news that we might not have heard before our technological advances.

Others would suggest that 2016 marks an immense transformation of the world as opposed to the notion that it represents a cycle of events across time.

Whatever our perception, 2016 has been a surprise to the majority of us and scanning through News, a lot of us have lost hope or placed it in a substance, person, or an idea.

But hope exists. It’s real and it’s tangible. Hope exists in goodness. Goodness exists in real charity.

This is not speaking of the organisations, nor the recipients. This is in reference to the power that occurs when we decide to put aside our egos and help others without any thought of what it might be doing for us; being charitable because it’s natural to us. 

2017 can be a year of goodness, but we must look inside and ask ourselves some deep personal questions regarding our daily actions:

Do we concede to love or fear? 

Do we act out of pride or humility? 

Do we behave out of self-interest or selflessness? 

Happy New Year 

Reflection on Psalm 42:11