Editorial The New York Times

If happiness consists in being safe while others are in danger, and in being comfortable while others sweat and suffer, we as a nation have lost it for the duration of the war. At best, that kind of happiness, at this time, was stolen goods. Only if we had been without self-respect, without pity and without hope could we have retained it.

We are better without it. We are better knowing that the price of true and lasting happiness is sacrifice. We are better knowing that only those nations and those families and those individuals that are willing to accept their fair share of the burden of calamity are entitled also to their fair share of the peace and freedom that are to come.

The happiness for which we have a right to wish today is not the absence of discomfort, danger, and sorrow. We may live hard and dangerously, and even sorrowfully, and still have a kind of happiness. For the true happiness is a positive thing. It is courage. It is faith. Faith that the good in life outweighs and will always outweigh the evil. Faith in humanity, in human rights, in human goodness. Only those who have a hope and vision of happiness for all humanity can have it for themselves.

We can be happy in this sense in the midst of a great war if we keep our own purposes pure; if we fight to liberate, not to enslave; if we go to battle in order to bring nearer the day of peace and of rebuilding; and if to these ends each of us accepts in patience the big or little sacrifices that are required of him.

We can be happy that the decision to do our full part in remaking the world in the interests of the humble, the dreamers, the builders, and to overthrow the destroyers and oppressors, has at last been taken; that the days of compromise and hesitation are over; that the circumstances under which war came to us have made us once more a united people; and that there is unmistakably in this nation a spirit that can rise above the craving for comfort and safety.

In a calm determination that will outlast rage, in good will toward all men of good will in every country, in self-forgetting willingness, each of us, to do his part according to his abilities, we can say, without irony and without bitterness, to all who stand with us in our struggle and our hope: Happy New Year!

Mrs. Seth T. Arkills Evening Gazette, Phoenix, Arizona

Another year is numbered with the past. We can never retrace one step or travel the same road once more. With the new year there come new opportunities, new responsibilities, a year filled with many problems. ...

In our quest for the ideal we seem to have lost our sense of true values. We have failed to visualize the spiritual foundation upon which our civilization is based, and upon which our future depends. Christianity is the foundation of that civilization we are today fighting for. Our social, economic, and political structure was founded upon faith in God, and in the following of His precepts. What we need today more than anything else is more adequate teaching of our youth in religion and morality. We have built up huge resources to combat our material ills, but our spiritual foundation is fast disintegrating.

Another great need is a mental and spiritual preparedness for the many problems before us. The new year brings new slants on women's responsibilities and opportunities. Women are the natural conservators of the home, where youth prepares for the duties of tomorrow. The strength of that home is reflected in the lives of tomorrow's citizenry.

But, though the world may be filled with tragedy, sorrow, and bloodshed, hope need not die. God still lives and His promises of deliverance will not fail. ... Let us pray daily for courage to discard nonessentials and to cling to the essentials of life; pray for divine guidance, and for a greater spiritual understanding.

Rev. T. J. Hind Vancouver Daily Province

"Have faith in God" are words spoken by Christ [Jesus] to his disciples. They are especially applicable for our day.

It is evident that the Master believed, when he gave this command, that it was possible, otherwise he would be guilty of tyranny. He also believed it necessary to issue such a command, otherwise he would be guilty of folly. But Christ [Jesus] was in no sense a tyrant, nor was he ever foolish. Therefore we should obey him. ...

Looking upon the present condition of the world, with its chaos, its uncertainty due to distressing war conditions and other vicissitudes, we see that faith in God is essential.

As we move into the future year, realizing responsibility such as may tax us extremely, we know faith in God will give us a calm heart, and a cool head to do our duty as we ought. ...

Faith is the channel that brings to us the resources of God. Let your faith in God provide you with courage, strength, confidence, wisdom, and an incurable optimism.

Rev. Albert Dutton Stearns Bee-Journal, Canastota, New York

Another year is at the door. Resolutions are in order. I wish to suggest just one. It is that you mightily resolve to make the coming year one in which each Lord's Day finds you in church. ... Others will be there because of your example; still others may be influenced to come if their friends take the church seriously. ...

If at any time in our lives we have needed God, it is now. If there has ever been a responsibility to encourage one another in the formation of Christian character, it is today. Shall we not, considering this opportunity and responsibility, make the strong resolution to attend regularly the church of our choice?

A friend predicted that we were about to witness a great revival of interest in the church. I pray that he is right, for from this interest and loyalty will come light for the dark and strength to carry the burden and do the right.

Herald
Lethbridge, Alberta

The Christmas season is over. If it has done nothing else, it has left us with a great reminder, something we should never forget. It is the great feeling that each of us in his or her individual way has brought or helped to bring a ray of radiance into, it may be, the life of somebody who greatly needed it. ...It is Christianity in action, impelled by the spirit of the feast which Christianity has given us and which had its origin not in a mighty mansion but in the manger of a stable.

There is something in the phrase "entering into the joys of the spirit." ... There are moments in our lives in which we feel the utmost satisfaction. Are they not when we have done something to brighten the lives of others, something to help the traveler on his or her way through life? When we come to realize what these moments mean, we shall have our Christianity strengthened and learn to appreciate the beauty of its obligations.

Hilda Richmond Crystal Mail, Michigan

On New Year's Day ... and on other notable occasions young people almost instinctively make good resolutions. They will lop off some bad habit, they will go to church services more regularly, they will give more attention to their health, they will drive more carefully, they will put away habits of laziness or thriftlessness—almost always the resolutions run in the direction of making up for neglect.

But a smaller number of people, young or old, makes resolutions that lift mind, body, and soul to higher levels. The Bible student determines to make a certain time to study, not merely read the Scriptures, or he determines to take a course of study to add to his present attainments. He is not dissatisfied nor condemned by his present standing but he will try for higher attainments. ...

Truly making good resolutions is a wonderful help not only in the spiritual life but in all other departments of human existence. The young man who vows that he will take an active part in some organized Christian work will be more helpful to his employer if he keeps his vow than the one who laughs at pledges of any kind. In making a good resolution the individual promises himself and his God that he will make an honest effort in a higher direction for a certain time and in a certain way to the best of his ability. Over and over, a good pledge to self and God has saved in the hour of temptation. The resolution sealed with a mother's kiss or a father's approval is one of the strongest things in life. "By the help of God I kept my resolution," said a young man to his pastor. "And I am determind to go higher this year." There are those who laugh and say that resolutions are of no practical value, but there are others who have demonstrated through the years that the moment of weakness, the hour of temptation can be met and the resolution to abstain from drinking, from low living and from sin holds the heart steady, and also gives the incentive to harder work and more success in all worth-while lines of life.