Down the Road:
A Poem for the New Year
by Katy Kauffman
I look down the road before me.
Only a few hundred feet are clear.
I don’t know what all lies ahead
As I start walking in this new year.
One crunch, two crunches, three.
My steps crack the thin ice.
Will I fall? Will I slip? Is it all
Left to chance, like throwing a pair of dice?
Then I hear a voice behind me,
“I’m with you, My child. Don’t you fear.”
I look around and see no one.
Yet I know He is here.
“God, You know what I’ve been through.
You know the pain and suffering.
Will this year be the same?
What good can it possibly bring?”
“I have adventures ahead,”
He says over my shoulder.
“I have new mercies to give
When the days grow colder.”
“There are too many who suffer alone,”
He whispers like a soothing father.
“Too many who don’t know Me yet,
People no one will bother.”
I think about my journey,
the long road left behind.
I turn around and look,
Squinting against the snow’s glary shine.
I see my crooked footprints,
Where I hobbled steadily along.
As I squint harder, I see something else.
I see the evidence of a throng.
Footprints of seen and unseen travelers.
How can it be?
What are their names
But hope, friendship, and mercy?
I wasn’t alone—God, You were there.
So were Your faithful companions.
I know it’s true—You’re with me,
And this soul You have never abandoned.
Send me where You will,
My feet, my words, my love.
Let my voice be heard across the world,
“We have help from God above!”
Speak, Lord, words of hope and strength.
Your Word will see us through.
Guide us on the difficult paths.
Remind us of the good we can do.
Help us to see others who hurt,
Those who need Your grace and truth.
Show us how to love them,
How to point them steadily to You.
I will trust You on this road,
This new chapter of adventure.
I will listen for Your voice to guide me
And to remind me that I’m Your treasure.
© Copyright 2016 by Katy Kauffman
See more of Katy’s poems in our Poetry section