#new year – Choose Joy: Poems, Prayers and Prose

Time to be still

Musee D’Orsay
Paris, France
August 2019

(photo by Carla Romarate-Knipel)

A new year has begun

My feet wants to keep going

But my heart desires to be still.

Within me a clock is ticking

Not fast or hurried, but steady

It is saying, you can be still

And keep going.

Stillness does not mean stuckness

Stillness can be active courage

Willing to remain calm and focused

Even when so many things are screaming for my attention.

Time to be still is good

At the beginning of the new year

It is necessary.

In stillness you take a deep breath

Before you take the next step:

You notice

You pay attention

And then you go on …

until it’s time

To be still again.

By Carla A. Romarate-Knipel

January 5, 2026

A New Year’s Day Prayer

It’s the first day of the new year, O God.

I thank you for the past year – with all its

…blessings, hardships, and challenges.

I thank you that you were with me

the whole time.

Even in the darker days, your Light

shone

… to illuminate my path,

… to warm my heart,

and lead me forward.

Now here I am,

at the beginning of a

new year.

May I go through this day and this year,

with confidence

in your everlasting, unconditional

love.

May I look up to You, who look upon me with

favor,

not because I am perfect, but because you are

perfect

and by my faith in Jesus, you have made me your

child.

Send me forth then into this new year, into your

world,

with hope and strength

to be your living, breathing blessing

to everyone I meet on this path,

journeying together…

to the future that you have prepared

for all your beloved children,

with faith, hope and love.

In the name of Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega,

the Author of my beginnings and endings.

Amen.

Resolve

 
- Carla A. Romarate-Knipel
Written on December 16, 2019

A new year will soon be dawning
I have but one resolve:
to walk slowly, 
though my mind wants to rush through the day;
to be still in my heart, 
even when my hands are eager to fix broken things;
to wait before I speak, and listen 
to the still, small voice within.

Copyright 2020
Carla Romarate-Knipel