January 2026

VIEW FROM THE HEIGHTS               

January 2026

Nothing harmful will take place on the Lord's holy mountain.Just as water fills the sea, the land will be filledwith people who know and honor the Lord.

Isaiah 11:9 CEV

Happy New Year!

May 2026 be the year God’s dreams come true!

It’s easy to doubt this, isn’t it? Or even denigrate the ideal?

But God has said that goodness WILL happen! And this coming year is the perfect reminder, the very prompt we need.  We will celebrate inventions and events that prove transformative change is possible.

THE BIG HAPPENING is the 250^th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. India, meanwhile, will celebrate 80 years as a sovereign nation.

Both point to God’s support for movements that give his children freedom to be their best selves, freedom to rule their own countries, and freedom to follow their own paths to the Holy. Empires and regimes, theologies and ideologies that limit [non-malignant] liberties: listen up!

Another important event in 2026 is the 150^th anniversary of the invention of the telephone. On March 10^th, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell spoke those famous words: “Mr Watson, come here. I want you.” It was a request for help after a lab spill, and the world has never been the same since.  Lesson to be learned: a mess can be the start of something great!

My last commemoration doesn’t come with a nice round number. The World Wide Web will be 33 years old this year. Some time ago, [creator] Tim Berners- Lee was asked if it had turned out as he’d imagined. He replied that he was surprised by all the cats! Stating he had never anticipated "kittens" becoming a dominant feature of his creation! He also admitted to being more of a “dog person”.  Lessons from the Web: even when life doesn’t turn out as one expects, it’s still good. Also: cats rule!

Though diverse in time and nature, these significant milestones jointly lift up the human spirit. They are testaments to our ability to discover new ways of being, communicating, and existing in community.

We humans have achieved so much, surely, we can establish peace and justice on Earth? For people, for the planet, and, of course, for cats of every kind!

We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power.

Then will our world know the blessings of peace.

William Ewart Gladstone

(British Prime Minister 1868 -1874, 1880-1885, 1886, 1892-1894)

Wishing you a New Year filled with peace!

Blessings,

Brenda