A beautiful prayer for the New Year

Dear Lord, I stand before a door to a year untried and new.
But I step through unafraid if I may walk with you.
So walk with me and talk with me in accents sweet and clear,
That I may live within your will throughout another year.
Bless those I meet along the way and walk beside them too,
That all we do and all we say will serve to honor you.

--by Ilah Schepper

Holding on too tight.

How one tribe in Africa finds water: They dig a narrow hole and drop food into it. A monkey comes along and grabs the food. The monkey's hand is small enough to get in, but his fist is too big to come out with the food in his hand. It never occurs to the monkey to let go of the food. So the tribe easily captures the monkey, feeds him salt, and lets him go. The monkey heads straight to the nearest water.