Happy or Healthy New Year?

Monday Ministerial Musings

By Rev. Mark William Ennis

2026 Blog #1

January 5, 2026

Happy or Healthy New Year?

Can you believe that 2025 has gone so quickly? I realize that I say this every year but every year it is true. Years go by in a hurry. My Grandmother once told that the older you get the faster time goes by. Of course, as a kid, this seemed ridiculous and I did not believe her, but I’m starting to realize just how correct she was.

Growing up, my family enjoyed entertaining friends. New Year’s Eve was always an annual event at our house. Guy Lombardo was on the television, and our guests chatted, ate, and watched the Guy Lombardo New Year’s Eve Show. I always enjoyed the New Year’s Eve menu. It included shrimp and I have always loved shrimp cocktail.

Of course, at these parties, we blew noise makers when the ball dropped at midnight and we wished each other a Happy New Year. I never quite understood the significance of staying up to midnight and watching the ball come down, but it was a good party and I enjoyed these parties.

Over the years I started hosting my own New Year’s Eve parties. I have had these parties for decades. There is no more Guy Lombardo, but the parties have continued and always ended with Happy New Year.

This year I did not host a party, nor did I attend one. When I met people around the new year I didn’t greet them with Happy New Year, but instead my greeting was “Healthy New Year.” Good health is my only wish for this new year.

This is an issue for me because I have been fighting for good health for the past six months. Ten years ago, I had radiation treatment for prostate cancer. I did not know it at the time, but the radiation had damaged tissue in my urinary bladder. This year, because of that, I have had bleeding from my bladder and frequent occlusions in my urinary track. In six months have been hospitalized ten times, but I’m still struggling. 

My daily routine now is that I spend each morning in hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The theory is that an oxygen rich environment helps to heal damaged tissue. I have now had forty such treatments and I will potentially have up to sixty such treatments. People in the medical field tell me that these treatments work, but one must be patient. I admit my level of patience has declined over these last months. There are times when I feel hopeful for a cure and times when I feel a bit hopeless.

My only wish for this new year is to have my health restored to what it had been. I am hoping that the combination of good medical care, and the blessing of God, will bring me to this end. This year I am wishing people a healthy new year. A friend reminded me that if I have a healthy new year, certainly that will give me a happy new year. I agree and I pray that God will grant me this blessing.

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