--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 11 number: 3 published: 1908-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "A Wish for the New Year," *Improvement Era* 11, no. 3 (January 1908): 220–221.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1103unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1103unse start_page: 220 end_page: 221 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1908-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1103unse publication_year: 1908 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1908, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Wish for the New Year A WISH FOR THE NEW YEAR. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst." — Fourth Beatitude. I was a poor shepherd, and dwelt in a little valley of the mountains. In the deep snows of winter I scoured the steep places for my scattered sheep. The cold, sharp winds penetrated to the bones and made me shiver. To bring back a lost creature, my faithful horse, facing the storms all day long, carried me shivering through the glens and over the hills and ravines. I needed fuel, and so penetrated the canyons with team and sled, returning laden with logs for the crude fire-place of my cruder cabin. The toil of the day made sweet my rest for the night. The work of the day sharpened my appetite, so that my coarse fare of bread and bacon was sweet to my taste. I was hungry and thirsty, and ate bread and drank water with relish. I ate and drank and was filled, because I was hungry and thirsty. I was hungry and thirsty because I worked. I dwelt in the city and had plenty. My servants groomed fine horses, and in easy carriages over smooth roads, they carried me to banquet halls and to temples of amusement. There were none to care for but myself, for how should I work for others when so many others vied to relieve me from toil! It was anxiety! enough for me to devise methods to relieve the sameness and monotony of my own existence, and to provide new and tempting devices for my own pleasure and appetite. They took me to a beautiful clubhouse for my meals. Here were decorated dining halls, marble walls, rich curtains of damask, stately mirrors, inlaid floors, tables spread with fine linen, and waiters in uniforms of EDITOR'S TABLE. 221 spotless white. For the feast they offered, amid rich melodies of orchestral music, tender roasts of numberless varieties, relishes, fruits, rare wines, and all the luxuries that earth produces. But in the midst of it all, I was weary and dissatisfied. My appetite was surfeited and pampered. I was neither hungry nor thirsty, and could neither eat nor drink. I was not filled, because only the hungry and thirsty can eat and drink, and only the worker hungers and thirsts. And can we acquire a keen appetite for spiritual food and drink in any other way than for physical? Verily, no . For spiritual appetite we must also toil. Exercise, labor, persistent effort are also essentials for the enjoyment of spiritual feasts. We cannot partake with relish of the rich bounties spread before us by the Spirit of the Father and by the gospel of Jesus Christ, without being spiritually hungry and thirsty. Help us, then, 0 God of our fathers, and Ruler of our nation and people, to toil steadfastly in thy cause during the New Year, that so we may hunger and thirst after righteousness, and be filled. Help us to let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and so glorify our Father which is in heaven.