In a year unlike any we’ve experienced before, innumerable Utahns and Americans, including my own family, have lost loved ones, close friends and special moments and opportunities we will likely never get back. Physical, emotional and mental threats caused by the Virus have ravaged our neighborhoods. Everyone of us has felt more vulnerable and victimized. We’ve seen violence, hate and political divisiveness tear at the fabric of our society. There are sundry reasons to feel resentment and fear.

And yet, there are even more reasons to feel hope and gratitude. Our standard of living and opportunities remain greater than so many around the world. We are not facing a foreign war. Many of our military men and women are home with family for the Holidays.

The resiliency of America is remarkable. The power to forgive, to serve and to heal are evident in stories played out in every community. What binds us together as Utahns and Americans should be more powerful than what divides.

For those of us in the Judeo-Christian faith, we believe God continues to bless us as a nation and often lets the light come strongest after the darkest hours. For our friends of other faiths or no faith at all, we ask for your prayers and meditations for thanksgiving, for healing and for love, particularly to any among us who are feeling alone, isolated and even, perhaps, that life is not worth living.

Today, let’s celebrate the family and friends who are still with us; the health and prosperity we still enjoy; the liberties and freedoms we still possess; the football games we can still watch; the service we can still render; the chances to still express our love and the hope a new year brings.