The LORD God took the man

and put him in

    the garden of Eden

to work it and keep it.

           Genesis 2. 15

(May we be faithful,

          fruitful and multiply

the little patch of dirt

        and the rag-tag flock

God has entrusted in our care.

It may not appear

         as the garden of Eden,

but only what appears as barren.

Yet, what if we worked

and cultivated and cared for it

    as what God has given?

What are we doing in this new year

to nurture and cultivate,

to sow and plant and care for

what God has entrusted us

     to work and keep?

It doesn't just happen.

We have only to be faithful.

God brings the fruit

and the growth

and transforms the landscape

from barrenness into His glory.)

O LORD,

We come before You

    in this new year,

    in this fresh new day,

not with empty hands,

but with willing hearts

to be faithful and fruitful

and embrace Your work

          in us.

What needs to change

is not our circumstances

             but our hearts.

Be our vision in this new year

that we would bring You glory

and delight in You

    in all You lay before us.

And to realize that

Your fruitfulness in us

    is not limited by what we see,

but transcends

                our lifetimes,

far more than we can know.