VICAR

Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and that You are not suffering too much from an excess of port and mince pies.

This week, on a Sunday where many are looking ahead to the new year, and considering resolutions they hope will be long-lasting — resolutions that span health, generosity, habits that deepen life — there is no resolution needed towards humanity, for humanity has already been resolved by God to be embraced, carried, helped and loved by the loving Creator.

Heavenly Father,
As we stand at the threshold of a new year, we quiet our striving hearts.
We thank You that our worth is not a resolution to be achieved, but a truth already settled by Your grace.
In the weeks to come, when our own promises falter, remind us that we are held by Your eternal promise.
Guide our steps, not merely towards self-improvement, but towards a deeper reflection of Your love for all creation. May we carry into this new year the profound peace that comes from knowing we are, and always shall be, resolved in You.
Amen.

As the final notes of the old year fade, we are invited not into a frantic race of self-reinvention, but into a quiet assurance. The most important work is already complete. Our task, then, is not to earn this love, but to live from it—to let it shape our health, our generosity, and our habits. May your coming year be blessed not by the perfection of your plans, but by the steady, joyful awareness of the love that underpins them all. A very happy and peaceful New Year to you and yours.

God bless You all. Have a joyful week to come.