Wishing you a great start
to a New Year

"A thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:4

"Since therefore a person lives after death, and then lives to eternity, and a life awaits him according to his love and faith, it follows that the Divine, out of love towards the human race, has revealed such things as may lead to that life, and conduce to a person's salvation. What the Divine has revealed is the Word with us." Emanuel Swedenborg, New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 251

The beginning of a new year is a time when we talk about life, new year's resolutions, and making changes that help us be healthy. Psalm 90 reminds us of the bigger picture that life continues after the death of the body. We continue to be our same 'human selves' though there are certain environmental changes when we pass into the next life.

These passages encourage us to take the long view, by thinking of our life on earth as just the beginning. When we cultivate healthy spiritual habits by choosing to love others more than self, we begin to see the rich, long term blessings that God has in store for us.

All of us at the New Church wish you a happy new year!

Message by David Lindrooth, Director of Outreach
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