“A Time to Talk,” Friend, Dec. 1971, insert
A Time to Talk
Don’t look now, but just around the corner of Christmas there’s a new year. If you’re lucky, you’ll be a year wiser, and so will everyone else around you.
One of the funny things about mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles and cousins is that they expect more from us each year. Sometimes they seem to think we will suddenly act more like grownups. But for each year we grow older, we don’t automatically become one year smarter, one year taller, or one year wiser. Some folks don’t know this; others have forgotten.
The thing to do with next year is to fill it to the brim. Fill it right to the very top with the best there is in the world—the best books, the best in friendships, the best in fun and fancy, the best you can possibly be as you carry on your life in this world. Our Heavenly Father would like us to be the best that we can be, even though he understands that this is not easy for any of us.
Next year will bring new things. Some old things might be repeated, but best of all, a new year can bring you one year farther in your progression as a human on this good earth.
The new year will be happier if you do something about it. Happiness is mostly what we do for ourselves and a little of what just accidentally happens.