Happy New Year from The Highbury Centre

Minnie Louise Haskins isn’t a name which may be very familiar to us in the 21st century. However, one of her poems, “God Knows” has a very famous first stanza which will be known to many readers. As we head into 2020, here at the Highbury Centre, we feel it’s a time to reflect, to look back but to move on with the certain knowledge that God is in charge.

Back to Minnie Louise Haskins and her poem, then.

And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.

The poem found international fame when George VI read it as part of his Christmas broadcast in 1939. The country was four months into the Second World War, uncertainty and fear were everywhere and the comfort of knowing that God was in charge was something which was desperately needed. Queen Elizabeth is said to have found the poem and suggested it to her husband.

80 years on, we still need to feel God’s loving touch. Regular prayer and waiting on the Lord underpin everything we do at the Highbury Centre. Knowing that He is waiting for us to put our hand into His gives us the courage to step out in the darkness, whatever it may be.

As we head into a new decade, we wish all our guests, past, present and future, a blessed and peaceful New Year. The words of the poem resonate as much today as they ever did, and we’d like to share with you a reassuring and comforting Scripture.

Psalm 16:8. “I will keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

Happy New Year!