Yevet Tenney

The ball has dropped. The confetti’s been tossed. The whistles have blown, and the firecrackers and sparklers have burned to ashes. The old man of the year has staggered out and the babe of the New Year bounces in with hopes and dreams of the coming 12 months. We make resolutions and set our course, but Monday comes – and where do we go from here?

There are a few things I have learned in raising 11 children and teaching in the public school for several years. I am not an expert – but close.

Believers attribute everything to God, and non-believers attribute everything to coincidence.

“It’s not my fault! I didn’t do it! I can’t do it! It’s too hard! The devil made me do it! I saw it on TV. I couldn’t help myself. It’s an addiction.” The excuses never end.

It is easy to look outside ourselves and blame others for our predicaments. We label our neuroses with fancy hard-to-pronounce jargon, and the blame shifts to something or someone else.

“It was my mother’s fault. My first-grade teacher didn’t do a good job. I have ADD, OCD and ADHD.” It all boils down to “I am not responsible for my behavior.”

As I watch the little plants pop through the soil and reach heavenward, I am reminded of the infinite power of faith and the grain of the mustard seed.

The seed is as small almost as a grain of sand, yet it grows into a beautiful shrub that spreads its branches for the birds to nest in.

Christ often used it as an example in his teachings. In Matthew, he compared the mustard seed to the kingdom of heaven – how it begins very small and insignificant but grows into something magnificent. My favorite comparison comes from Matthew 17:20:

With the holidays behind me and the hope of a new year before me, I sit in the clutter of the old year’s passing and look forward to a brighter year.

Not that last year was a bad year. In fact, last year was a wonderful year full of blessings and miracles that could have only come from a loving Father in Heaven who knows the plight of every sparrow and delights in the lilies of the field.

I have come to know that He knows me personally and is concerned with my little corner of the globe.