The New Leaf

The New Leaf

            With the coming of the new year, my mind goes back over the last year, remembering both the good and the bad.  I must admit that I tend to dwell on my failures.  I remember the line of poetry written by Francis Thompson, “while memory runs like a hunted thing down paths it cannot retrace.”  I am sometimes haunted by the memories, finding it hard to sleep, hard to concentrate on other things. 

            But then I read Philippians 3:13 and 14 the other night and recalled that God does not want me focused on the past.  “This one thing I do, forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ.”  I do not want to be bound by the past.  I want to remember that I can have a fresh start, a new beginning, a new leaf.

The New Leaf

He came to my desk with quivering lip –
The lesson was done.
“Dear Teacher. I want a new leaf he said,
“I have spoiled this one.”
I took the old leaf, stained and blotted,
And gave him a new one, all unspotted,
And into his sad eyes smiled;
“Do better now, my child!”

I went to the Throne with a quivering soul –
The old year was gone.
“Dear Father, hast Thou a new leaf for me?”
“I have spoiled this one.”
He took the old leaf, stained and blotted
And into my sad heart smiled:
“Do better now, my child!”

~~Faith Lamb