Seventy-five years ago, in December of 1939, Britain was at war. It’s easy to forget, knowing what we do today, that at the time no one knew how that war would end.
That year in his Christmas message King George VI ended his 9-minute broadcast with the lines of an obscure poem by a little-known poet.
“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.'”
He concluded his speech with “May that Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.”
I say, “Amen” to that!
(Read the article “At the Gate of the Year” which quotes the rest of the poem — originally titled “God Knows” but now usually called “At the Gate of the Year” — and tells us more about its author Minnie Haskins [1875-1957]).
And now, I wish all who read here a
Violet Nesdoly 
Thanks, Violet for posting this – a great inspiration from history… I love it! Happy New Year to you and Ernie as well!
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Thanks Dawn! Happy New Year to you and Ken as well. (Are you back in Canada? If not, safe travels…)
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You will have noticed that this is one of my favourites as well…
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Holly Mueller has us thinking about the word light for our Spiritual Thursday link up tomorrow. I love how this poem tells us that it’s not the light, but the hand of God we must hold. Thanks!
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I love doors and gates … They give us hope of something possibly better even if it only means a change of view.
A good way to begin the new year.
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