Yevet Tenney

The horns blow, whistles scream, firecrackers rattle, confetti floats into the sky and shouts of “Happy New Year” rend the air to signify the death of the old year and herald in the new.It is just a second before the old dies and the new begins, but it only takes a second to change a life forever. It begins with a desire to “walk in newness of life."

Among the Christmas lights, the tinsel, baking and shopping, our family goes caroling to the seniors in our community.

The recent political debates over who is Christian and who is not, or who belongs to a cult and who does not, reminds me of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, wherein Gulliver finds himself drawn into a war between the Big Endians and the Little Endians.

When I was about 11 years old, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music starring Julie Andrews came to the Snowflake Show House.

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The scriptures are full of references to repentance. On the day of Pentecost, Peter called for repentance. He “said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

My aunt Twila Hancock passed away in August. Her life was one of service and charity. She raised four beautiful children, who in turn raised children to follow in her footsteps.