New Year's Day is a good time to fix one's eyes on the only One who knows what the year is to hold.

Women still dream and hope, pin their emotions on some man who doesn't reciprocate, and end up in confusion.

A man must at times be hard as nails: willing to face up to the truth about himself, and about the woman he loves, refusing compromise when compromise is wrong. But he must also be tender. No weapon will breach the armor of a woman's resentment like tenderness.

Here lies the tremendous mystery - that God should be all-powerful, yet refuse to coerce. He summons us to cooperation. We are honored in being given the opportunity to participate in his good deeds. Remember how He asked for help in performing his miracles: Fill the water pots, stretch out your hand, distribute the loaves.

To love God is to love His will. It is to wait quietly for life to be measured by One who knows us through and through. It is to be content with His timing and His wise appointment.

God will not protect you from anything that will make you more like Jesus.

Sometimes God's refusals are His mercies.