For the New Year, 2022

“And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good,
and acceptable,
and perfect,
will of God.”
Romans 12:2 (KJV)

So by wisely using that which we have, the natural, we are transformed from that which is most apparent, and consequently that which we think we are, the mortal, the physical, into that which from all eternity we in reality are, and never except in our own minds can get away from, – the Spiritual, the Divine.

It is through this instrumentality that the Divine Life within us, the Divine Life with all its ever-ready-to-break-forth glories and powers, is enabled to be changed from a mere passive and hence potential actuality, and to burst forth into the full splendors of conscious, active life. Surely, then, thought rightly directed and rightly used has within it the true regenerating and hence redeeming power; through it and it alone are we able to make for ourselves a new heaven and a new earth, or rather, by thus finding the kingdom of God, and through it entering into the conscious realization of the heavenly state, are we able to make for ourselves a new earth by actualizing the kingdom of Heaven in our lives while living on the earth, and which, when once truly realized, can never be lost.

– Ralph Waldo Trine, The Greatest Thing Ever Known,” 1898

I stand amazed at the fathomless wealth of God’s wisdom and God’s knowledge.
How could man ever understand his reasons for action,
or explain his methods of working?
For: Who hath known the mind of the Lord?
Or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For everything began with him,
continues its existence because of him,
and ends in him.
To him be the glory for ever, amen.
– St. Paul, Romans 11:33-36

The New Testament in Modern English: Student Edition Revised,
translated by J. B. Phillips, copyright.