Requests for the New Year

What shall I ask for the coming year?
What shall my watchword be?
What should thou do for m, dear Lord?
What can I do for thee?

Lord, I would ask for a holy year,
Spent in thy perfect will.
Help me to walk in thy very steps;
Help me to please thee still.

Lord, I would ask for a trustful year,
Give me thy faith divine,
Taking my full inheritance,
Making thy fullness mine!

Lord, I would ask for a year of love;
O let me love thee best!
Give me the love that faileth not
Beneath the hardest test.

Lord, I would ask for a year of prayer,
Teach me to walk with thee;
Breathe in my heart the Spirit's prayer;
Pray thou thy prayer in me!

Lord, I would ask for the dying world,
Stretch forth thy mighty hand;
Thy truth proclaim, thy power display
This year in every land.

Lord, I would ask for a year of joy;
Thy peace, thy joy divine,
Springing undimmed through all the days
Be thy days of shade or shine.

Lord, I ask for a year of hope,
Looking for thee to come,
And hastening on that year of years
That brings us Christ and Home..  

Author Unknown

For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

Psalm 90:4

TIME:

The discussion of TIME facts thus far has been basically a concern with the calendar. This has been a major concern and confusion since the start of the measurement of accumulated days into weeks, months and years. The length of a day has really never been in much dispute. The length of a day is the length of time for one rotation of the earth upon its axis. The simple rising and setting of the sun was proof of the change of day. Cultures have differed as to the time a new day begins. Some begin the day at sunrise, some at sunset. The standard today is midnight for the ending of the old day.

We have discovered that the earth's rotation is slowing down. To compensate for the lag we have added "leap seconds" to our days. You probably didn't notice the difference, but June of 1992 was one second longer than the normal month of June. The International Earth Rotation Service keeps calendar time in sync with international atomic time.

There are 24 standard time zones that serially cover the earth. This accounts for the 24 hours in each calendar day. The time zones are at intervals of 15 degrees longitude and 60 minutes of Universal Time (UT). The International Date Line is at approximately the 180th meridian. It is at this point where the calendar days are separated. As one travels from west to east (Tokyo to Los Angeles) the day is set back one day: Monday becomes Sunday. Traveling east to west, the calendar day is advanced one day: Wednesday becomes Thursday.

On January 1, 1972, Universal Time (UT) was adopted as the time reference coordinate for scientific work. Prior to this date Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was used as this standard. GMT is based on when the sun crosses the Greenwich Meridian. Greenwich Meridian is 0 degrees longitude and passes through the Greenwich Observatory. Universal Time is based on an atomic clock and utilizes the atomic second that was established in 1968. With the advent of the atomic clock (TIME 1) the use of time-consuming astronomical observations and calculations for GMT were unnecessary. The atomic clock is based on the regular oscillations that occur within a hot cesium atom. This clock is accurate to 3 millionths of a second per year.  

Sources: The Handy Science Answer Book - Visible Ink|
Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 96 Encyclopedia. |

A New Year Quotation

The Unknown

I do not know what still awaits,
Or what the morrow brings;
But with the glad salute of faith,
I hail its open wings!

For this I know -- that in my Lord
Shall all my needs be met;
And I can trust the heart of him
Who has not failed me yet..

Author unknown