TheDiscipleMD
A few years ago, I was privileged to stay at my now deceased Father’s home for over a week. I was mainly in and out, but on one occasion, I was present for a meal he and I shared. As the head of the house, he took the honor of saying the blessing. It was a prayer like many others that I have heard over my lifetime. However, one phrase of the prayer that he gave impressed me. Addressing Heavenly Father, he said, ” We thank thee for the prospect of a new day”. It struck me as a simple but profound statement. I thought about it later on that day and wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget. I didn’t ask him what he meant when he said it, I can only surmise its meaning by the definition I gave it. I looked up the word “prospect” and found the definition I understood it to be.

Prospect: The possibility of something happening soon: a chance or the likelihood that something will happen in the near future, especially something desirable. (Bing dictionary).

Another word that my father might have put in place of “prospect” might have been the word “hope”, as in “the hope of a new day”. Be it the word “prospect” or “hope”, I think having the “vision” to see such in each day is just as important. There is new hope in each day that we live. None of us knows what awaits us as each day dawns. But we should be grateful for the “prospects” of such a day. We now enter into, not just a new day, but a new year. It is a year full of prospects and hope. It is a year that holds adventure, as well as joy and happiness. Unfortunately for some of us, it might also be a year full of challenges, disappointment or sorrow. Yet, as each day passes, let us remember the wise counsel that was given by Russell M. Nelson many years ago. He gave a talk at the Marriott Center on January 8, 1995. In it he said this:

“We all have hope. Some hopes are more important than others. A few are major enough to have merited New Year’s resolutions. As the title of my message, I have borrowed a phrase from the Book of Mormon, “a more excellent hope.” That expression is attributed to Moroni, who further declared that “man must hope, or he cannot receive an inheritance in the place which [God has] prepared.” (Ether 12:32)(“A More Excellent Hope”)

Why must we have “hope” to inherit the “place in which (God has) prepared?” Because without hope we cannot have faith, and without faith we cannot believe in His name. And without belief in His name, we cannot be saved. So, here we are at the beginning of a new year.  Its prospects are exciting. The new year is exciting because it is in front of us, not behind. It holds the hope and dreams of things that lie ahead, “especially something desirable”. The door for such dreams, in this life, has closed for those of the loved ones who have gone on before us. Yet, we remain, and the “prospect of a new day” should be buoyed up by our faith in our Savior Jesus Christ. May His light shine forth on our souls, as the dawning of a new era in our lives commences upon us this day, in this new decade.