THERE is ever a pleasure in greeting one another at the beginning of a new year, and especially when we are young; and the friends who conduct FAITHFUL WORDS greet their readers with hearty wishes for a Happy New Year!
What the new year will bring to us of pleasure or of pain, of realization or of disappointment, none of us can tell, but we do know that all things work together for good to those who love God. Pain and disappointment, as well as pleasure and realized hopes, all work together for good, and very often the bitter is better in the end than the sweet.
Too easy success in school often ends in disappointment in later years, for our young friend, reasoning by his easily-gained prizes, thinks more highly of himself than he ought to think, and has to take a place in the class where he may learn his deficiency in perseverance; and the same principle holds good as to Christian things. Let these failures of last year only make you more careful this, and its successes lead you to greater perseverance!
We would give you this threefold motto for the new year: Be watchful; be prayerful: be brave. Keep good watch over yourself first. A good soldier will have his garments, his weapons, and the inside of his knapsack all ready at every moment for the colonel’s eye. Keep a good watch over yourself in every day’s duties. ‘Nothing is too small to be done to the Lord.
Next, do not let two hours of the day pass without some word of prayer to God. In school-time, in play-time, you can lift up your heart and seek and find strength from God for the moment. If you wait till the end of the day to pray you surely forget to speak to the Lord about a great many things as to which you need His strength. If you are in such a hurry to dress in the morning that you have not time for prayer, you will begin the day badly, and you will find it no easy matter to go on well after a bad beginning.
Lastly, be brave! How brave boys are in the games! How little do they care for their hurts! Oh, be brave, dear Christian boys, for Christ! Boys and girls who love Jesus, do not be ashamed of Him. Be natural and what you are; never try to be what you are not; but do not be ashamed of your Saviour; do not flinch from confessing His name.
Once again we wish you a happy new year, every one of you―a bright and joyous new year!