
THE FAIRY’S NEW YEAR GIFT
Two little boys were at play one day when a Fairy suddenly appeared before them and said: “I have been sent to give you New Year presents
She handed to each child a package, and in an instant was gone
Carl and Philip opened the packages and found in them two beautiful books, with pages as pure and white as the snow when it first falls
Many months passed and the Fairy came again to the boys. “I have brought you each another book?” said she, “and will take the first ones back to Father Time who sent them to you
May I not keep mine a little longer?” asked Philip. “I have hardly thought about it lately. I ‘d like to paint something on the last leaf that lies open
No,” said the Fairy; “I must take it just as it is
I wish that I could look through mine just once,” said Carl; “I have only seen one page at a time, for when the leaf turns over it sticks fast, and I can never open the book at more than one place each day
You shall look at your book,” said the Fairy, “and Philip, at his.” And she lit for them two little silver lamps, by the light of which they saw the pages as she turned them
The boys looked in wonder. Could it be that these were the same fair books she had given them a year ago? Where were the clean, white pages, as pure and beautiful as the snow when it first falls? Here was a page with ugly, black spots and scratches upon it; while the very next page showed a lovely little picture. Some pages were decorated with gold and silver and gorgeous colors, others with beautiful flowers, and still others with a rainbow of softest, most delicate brightness. Yet even on the most beautiful of the pages there were ugly blots and scratches
Carl and Philip looked up at the Fairy at last
Who did this?” they asked. “Every page was white and fair as we opened to it; yet now there is not a single blank place in the whole book
Shall I explain some of the pictures to you?” said the Fairy, smiling at the two little boys
See, Philip, the spray of roses blossomed on this page when you let the baby have your playthings; and this pretty bird, that looks as if it were singing with all its might, would never have been on this page if you had not tried to be kind and pleasant the other day, instead of quarreling
That,” said the Fairy sadly; “that came when you told an untruth one day, and this when you did not mind mamma. All these blots and scratches that look so ugly, both in your book and in Carl’s, were made when you were naughty. Each pretty thing in your books came on its page when you were good
Oh, if we could only have the books again!” said Carl and Philip
That cannot be,” said the Fairy. “See! they are dated for this year, and they must now go back into Father Time’s bookcase, but I have brought you each a new one. Perhaps you can make these more beautiful than the others
So saying, she vanished, and the boys were left alone, but each held in his hand a new book open at the first page
And on the back of this book was written in letters of gold, For the New Year
By Emilie Poulsson

We are supposed to have a bit of that ‘fairy dust’ today in the form of snow today. Hopefully the roads to and from work will be just fine and then I’ll be in for a nice long 4 day weekend. We get New Year’s Day off and then I took a vacation day on Friday.
I will thoroughly enjoy having another long break from work. Next week it will be back to work and back to normal. It will be a very long stretch til I have another vacation day. I don’t think there are any til April when camping season starts again. I’m trying to save them all for April through October so I can have nice long weekends at the camper.
There will be some special days coming up but not vacation days. 3 of my grand babes have birthdays in January. I may get to see 2 of them at the Stroll for Epilepsy that we do each year( It will be on the 31st of the month ) but one of them is very far a way so that will mean sending off a gift in the mail.
My youngest son also has a birthday in January. He’ll is the same age as my ‘dirty old ‘ bird. We don’t know when bird’s birthday was at all but they said she was 2 when we got her and DS#6 was 2 at the time.
I hope your enjoy your New Years. It will be a quiet one here. I watch TV and see the New Year come in if I can stay awake that long. I was up at 5 this morning as it’s a work day and that will make for a very long day.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY
A Year of Time
By Steven B. Cloud
As we look into 2009 we look at a block of time. We see 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, 8,760 hours, 525,600 minutes, 31,536,000 seconds. And all is a gift from God. We have done nothing to deserve it, earn it, or purchased it. Like the air we breathe, time comes to us as a part of life.
The gift of time is not ours alone. It is given equally to each person. Rich and poor, educated and ignorant, strong and weak—every man, woman and child has the same twenty-four hours every day
The gift of time is not ours alone. It is given equally to each person. Rich and poor, educated and ignorant, strong and weak—every man, woman and child has the same twenty-four hours every day.
Another important thing about time is that you cannot stop it. There is no way to slow it down, turn it off, or adjust it. Time marches on.
And you cannot bring back time. Once it is gone, it is gone. Yesterday is lost forever. If yesterday is lost, tomorrow is uncertain. We may look ahead at a full year’s block of time, but we really have no guarantee that we will experience any of it.
Obviously, time is one of our most precious possessions. We can waste it. We can worry over it. We can spend it on ourselves. Or, as good stewards, we can invest it in the kingdom of God.
The new year is full of time. As the seconds tick away, will you be tossing time out the window, or will you make every minute count?
'On Ya’-ma

Robert A. Ward
