CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON -- Moral of the Story

“I said to the man at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I

may go forth into the unknown.’ And the man replied, ‘Put your hand into

the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, safer than a

known way.”’

-- A New Year’s message from Britain’s King George to his embattled

people at the beginning of World War ll.

“I don’t need New Year’s resolutions, I need a revolution. I need a

new me, a better me, a changed me. I’m tired of me. I upgraded my

computer, now how do I upgrade myself?” a friend said to me recently.

I laughed and said, “I know what you mean. I’m ready for some changes

too.”

We talked some more and realized that the only way we were going to

change ourselves is if God is involved. I called her back and read the

above quote to her and said, “What if we both decide to mentally picture

ourselves putting our hands into God’s hand every day? Maybe that is a

resolution that can lead to something revolutionary in our lives.”

We agreed.

I like the mental picture of putting my hand in God’s. Handprints are

easy for me to visualize. I actually came across several different

pictures of handprints last week.

Before our daughters left to go back to college, they helped me start

a big project. I decided it was time to clean out the attic, and we

started by going through many of their boxes. We laughed and cried as we

leafed though years of history represented in drawings, school papers,

stuffed animals and other treasures.

Both girls had several pictures with handprints. Both had paintings

from preschool made by putting their hands in blue paint and covering a

page with little blue hands. They both also had several Thanksgiving

paintings where they had traced their hands to use to draw turkeys.

We also came across several different sets of New Year’s resolutions

in the boxes.

Kelly wrote one list in big printing when she was 7 years old that

included the following: “Brush my teeth every day. Pray every day. Don’t

say bad words. Clean my room. Obey my parents. Be kind to others. Wash my

face every day. Do my very best in school. Say more positive things.”

Another list of Kelly’s had an interesting assortment of goals. It

said: “Don’t lie. Don’t pollute the ocean. Remember that doctors and

dentists are nice. Enjoy life. Look both ways before crossing the street.

Never give up.”

Amy had one list that was short but to the point. In big letters

written in pencil it said, “Get to know God better.”

Both Kelly and Amy did a great job with all those early New Year’s

resolutions. I think I’ll borrow one from each of their lists this year.

From Kelly’s list, I choose to pray every day. From Amy’s list, I

choose to get to know God better. I think the best way to do both of

those is to mentally picture myself putting my hand into God’s hand.

This year then, I hope to do a better job of letting him lead the way.

And you can quote me on that.

* CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON is a Newport Beach resident who speaks

frequently to parenting groups. She may be reached via e-mail at o7

cindy@onthegrow.comf7 or through the mail at P.O. Box 6140-No. 505,

Newport Beach, CA 92658.