To the beginning of another year
A very happy and blessed New Year to all readers!
And so we come to the beginning of another new year. I wonder what 2009 holds for us, how will it compare to the year just gone by? None of us can really know the answer to that as yet, which is, perhaps, just as well.
The current difficulties in the world’s economies certainly mean that many people are starting this year with much less optimism than last. Too many people are facing the loss of employment, with all the stress and uncertainty that brings in its wake. I know, from experience, how difficult this situation is for people, especially at this time of year: my heart and my prayers go out to those in need at this time.
There is still far too much conflict around the world, in too many places to name individually. I hope and pray that 2009 will see a lessening, if not a cease, in hostilities; and that the leaders of the nations will find ways to work in collaboration together to bring about the lasting peace that so many yearn for.
My own personal desires and aims are much the same as they were at the beginning of 2008. In fact, they’re still so applicable, I’ll just repeat them here: “I’d like to see an improvement in my health — it has been difficult recently. It may not happen of course. But whatever the year ahead holds, I hope I can live it in the way that God wants me to; and I will continue to trust in him for the future as I step out in faith.”
One thing that is very different this year, to what it was last year, is this blog. The post I wrote, with the same title, last year was the third post on the blog; this one is number 176. On the whole I’m really pleased with the way things have gone. The main focus of the blog is still a reflection based in some way on the weekly collect — using the Additional Collects of the Church of England. But that focus has expanded somewhat over the last few months to include other areas of interest; I do hope you enjoy the extra as much as I do.
A few practical points about the blog:
- On the whole I’ve been trying to publish my reflections on the Collect the day before it’s actual day — my thinking was that it just might be helpful to someone in their own preparations, but I don’t think they’re being used that way at all. So I’ve decided that it makes more sense to publish on the day the Collect is for in future.
- WordPress continues to be my blogging platform of choice. I like the direction it’s taking, and have been especially enamoured of this latest (2.7) release. The changes they’ve made to the back-end have been really great, and made things considerably easier with the administration tasks on the blog.
- I really like the clean lines of the current theme (Code Gray) that I have on the blog. But to get it looking just how I wanted, I’ve had to make a considerable number of changes to the code. That’s okay, until the time comes when the theme needs upgrading, and they’ll all need re-doing. So I keep looking, and it will probably change again.
- I’m phasing out the Feedburner supply of the RSS feed, and just using the built in WordPress feed. It was sometimes taking several hours for the feed to show in a reader, whereas with the built in system it’s minutes at most. If you are still subscribed through the Feedburner address, could I ask you, please, to resubscribe — the url is: http://www.paulsibley.net/feed/
- A question for you — is the blog title, “kneel in wonder at heaven touching earth”, too long? I’ve been considering the possibility of shortening to just, “kneel in wonder”, but can’t make my mind up about it. Opinions would be valued.
- If you have any comments or suggestions for improvements, I would always be glad to hear them — either through the comments system or the contact form. I can’t promise to follow every idea, but will give it consideration.
My thoughts and prayers are with you all as you head into 2009. May we all find ways of living the rest of our lives to the honour and glory of God.
Eternal Lord God,
we give you thanks for bringing us through the changes of time
to the beginning of another year.
Forgive us the wrong we have done in the year that is past,
and help us to spend the rest of our days
to your honour and glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for the New Year,
from Common Worship: Times and Seasons
is Copyright © The Archbishops Council
About Paul Sibley
Andrew Gosden (now 18) has been missing from his Doncaster home since 14 September 2007. The search continues.
Elizabeth Jackson on 
Hey Paul,
Delivery of your feed has continued uninterupted for me. Did you have a feedburner plugin rather than “hardwiring” the feedburner code into the header? If so, that explains why I haven’t had to resubscribe.
I love your blog name. That said, I had to shorten it on my blogroll because of the way it’s set up (to make it look good).
I’m thinking of changing my blog name too, to “A Word Made Flesh.” It was a phrase that I heard yesterday that seems to go with “ephemeralthoughts” as the domain name. I’m still thinking about it though.
I love the Code Gray theme. I looked at it once upon a time for my own blog, but was a bit intimidated by what I’d have to modify. You’ve done a great job!
Thank you for your thoughts Kay, they’re much appreciated.
Yes, I was using a feedburner plugin, rather than hardwiring — I wonder if that might be why it was taking so long. I’ve added a feedstats plugin to keep a bit of an eye on the numbers from the WordPress feed.
The blog name does have that natural place to shorten it when people need to — just had a look at what you’ve done with your blogroll; it looks great! From feedback I’ve had to this post, and my own thoughts, I think I’m going to keep it as it is for the time being. It’s a meaningful phrase from the first Collect I looked at more deeply.
“A Word Made Flesh” is a good name, and works especially with the way you delve into the meaning of words sometimes, though I do like “Ephemeral Thoughts”.
It looks as though you can’t download unsupported versions of the Revolution themes any more, so upgrades aren’t likely unless I pay for support — and with the amount I’ve changed on this I’m not sure that I’d get much in the way of support. Something to think about. One thing I will say, I was a bit intimidated by the number of changes I would need to make at first, but Brian’s code is so clean and well set out it wasn’t half as bad as I expected, and I learned a lot in the process.