Take 2 cups of kindness, fresh from the Christian heart; add 1 cup of very thoughtful prayer and cream together with a pinch of prepared tenderness. Beat this mixture very lightly into a large bowl of love, generously seasoned with joy and laughter. Now, add enough faith, hope and charity to fill the bowl almost to the brim. Then, as you moisten this mixture with a dash of the tears of heartfelt sympathy, the bowl will be heaping full and running over. Fold in 2 teaspoons of pure joy for richer flavor. Pour into a pan previously prepared by the lining of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, and bake in the oven of a tender, eager heart, until mellow and firm. Serve this with your main course, the BIBLE, in very large portions, as often as possible, to those desiring to learn the way of truth more perfectly. These directions, faithfully followed, will give you a most happy and rewarding new year.
Recipe for a Happy New Year
Take twelve fine, full-grown months; see that these are thoroughly free from all old memories of bitterness, rancor, hate, and jealousy; cleanse them completely from every clinging spite; pick off all specks of pettiness and littleness; in short, see that these months are freed from all the past – have them fresh and clean as when they first came from the great storehouse of Time.
Cut these months into thirty or thirty-one equal parts. This batch will keep for just one year. Do not attempt to make up the whole batch at one time (so may persons spoil the entire lot in this way), but prepare one day at a time, as follows:
Into each day put twelve parts of faith, eleven of patience, ten of courage, nine of work (some people omit this ingredient and so spoil the flavor of the rest), eight of hope, seven of fidelity, six of liberality, five of kindness, four of rest (leaving this out is like leaving oil out of the salad – don’t do it), three of prayer, two of meditation, and one well-selected resolution. If you have no conscientious scruples, put in about a teaspoon of good spirits, a dash of fun, a sprinkling of play, and a heaping cupful of good humor.
Pour into the whole love ad libitum and mix with vim. Cook fervently in a fervent heat; garnish with a few smiles and a sprig of joy; then serve with quietness, unselfishness, and cheerfulness; a Happy New Year is a certainty.
via Gospel Advocate, January 9, 1941