Prospect of a New Year – Sunday, December 28, 1941
With another new year soon to become a part of the reality of our lives, we contemplate those things which belong to the changeless past, and those things which are yet to come. And as we look out upon the prospect of the year that lies before us, perhaps that which impresses itself most upon our minds is its uncertainty—all of its undisclosed events. Sometimes we think if we could only know we could endure all—but that is not the way of this life.
After fortifying ourselves to the best of our ability and in accordance with the best knowledge we have, we must accept what comes—without knowing. New years have always held their own secrets, and no matter what the world expects this new year to give it, there is some finality in the thought, and perhaps some comfort too, that there has always been uncertainty. In this respect the coming year is no different from any other.
A year ago there were uncertainties, also, and we had no liking for the prospect, but we have lived through it, with many compensations to relieve the uninviting picture. And now again, as always, we face uncertainty—but only uncertainty so far as passing events are concerned, beyond which there remain the fundamental, unchanging certainties; and the circumstances of a passing day must not be allowed to confuse these fundamentals that govern our lives. In the long view of immortal man there is still only one set of rules to be followed.
Passing regulations may change; the outward habits of our lives may, of necessity, be altered, but, at peace or at war, at home or away, we must not let ultimate objectives be lost sight of, nor principles nor standards nor beliefs nor ideals, nor any of the goodness of life, be lost. We may go through the fire, but in doing so we must not become as dross. And so, as we have lived through all the years that are past, and found life to be good in spite of many unwanted things, we cal also live through all the years to come, even as long as time shall be given unto us, until we are called back to that home from which we came, where the years are no longer numbered, and where the sweep of time is measured only by the endlessness of immortality.
December 28, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,645