It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. Time is marching on. But with it, also comes increased violence and less compassion and care for one another.

The past year 2014 was especially brutal and painful for millions of people around the world. Just think of these events or circumstances:

• The mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines jetliner with 227 on board. It could have been an act of violence. Conspiracy theories abound. Another Malaysian Airlines plane was shot down by Russian-supported fighters over the Ukraine killing everyone on board.

• The horrific terrorism of Nigeria’s Boko Haram with their killings, rapes, and kidnappings including the kidnap of over 200 young girls who disappeared and were being raped and married off to their Muslim captors and forced to convert to the Muslim religion.

• The rise of ISIS in the Middle East and their unspeakable brutality including the torture and beheading of several American and British citizens that was posted online for the world to see.

On Turtle Island, we’ve had our own share of pain and suffering.

• The deaths of African-Americans Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner on Staten Island, New York, at the hands of white police officers which led to widespread protests and rioting across the U.S. that never seemed to end.

• The shooting of two New York City police officers in retaliation.

• The discovery of 16-year-old Aboriginal Tina Fontaine wrapped in a bag in the Red River in Winnipeg, and a couple months later another Native teenager Reinelle Harper, was brutally assaulted and thrown into the Assiniboine River to die. Just before Christmas, a six-year-old girl was assaulted and left in the snow in Edmonton.

All three of these assaults and murders have renewed the outcry and call for a national inquiry into the over 1,200 missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.

• The high school shooting in Washington State, the first carried out by a Native American.

• The increasing number of suicides across Native Country.

Reading and hearing reports of these acts of terrorism and violence and so many more cause us to think of 2014 as “the year of weeping.”

Now that we’ve just turned the page to a new chapter with a new year before us, perhaps our tears will turn into rejoicing.

When it comes to the larger crises such as ISIS, Boko Haram and the Ebola Epidemic, we need to leave these up to our government leaders and our military, to take charge and do what it takes to defeat these enemies. Where we can support and work to assist, we should. But the ultimate result is not in our hands.

As for the violence within our borders, in our communities, large and small, urban or rural, and in our homes, there is something we can do about it. Stop marching, start working. Stop talking about the violence and racism, and start taking action loving our neighbors as ourselves, and practicing the truth that in Jesus Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek nor Muslim, male nor female, Black nor White, Native nor Asian. We are all one through Jesus.

But we need to put the truth into action. Will 2015 be the year?

King Solomon wrote—

There is a time to weep and a

Time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a

time to dance...

—Ecclesiastes 3:4

Will this New Year 2015 be a time of weeping or a time for laughing? Will it be a time of mourning or a time of dancing?

We know our Creator God is in charge and that ultimately He has things under control. We also know that much of what happens in our lives has to do with the choices we make and our attitude. There is a lot we can do to change situations in our homes, workplaces and communities.

Let’s do our best to work together in improving our lives and the lives of our neighbors. Let’s leave those things that are beyond our control to the One who created us and desires above all that we become His children.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!