A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle, we shall remain undaunted. In the meantime I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines which, in my closing words, I would like to say to you:

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.”

King George VI of England, Christmas 1939 (as quoted in Becoming a Woman at Peace)

Happy New Year to one and all!