A number of speeches, however, evinced a note of particular unease and defensiveness – less about the risks attending the military tasks that lay ahead than about possible implications for the home front.
At a private Oval Office meeting with President Obama on Feb. 4, Mr. Leahy ticked off the tasks that lay before him in the opening months of Mr. Obama's second term: the Violence Against Women Act, gun safety legislation, immigration and a possible Supreme Court confirmation fight.
In addition, ordinary members are called upon to give talks, teach classes, organize events and do many other tasks that lay members are usually not asked to perform in other churches.
"I think that anybody that thinks they're ready for this job on Jan . 1 given the monumental tasks that lie ahead, doesn't understand this job really well.
Many of the tasks that lie ahead are easily identified, and some are "shovel-ready," awaiting only an infusion of federal energy and money.
However, the tasks that lie ahead of his regime are not easy: overcoming decades of isolation, bringing North Korean society into meaningful reconciliation with South Korea and Japan, being accepted into the international community and building an economy that works.
While possessed of the kind of inner confidence and experience that comes from being the heirs of a great civilisation, the Chinese have no illusions about where they have got to and the tasks that lie ahead.
"America, for all that we have endured, for all the grit and hard work required to come back, for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this: the shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong," he said.
Responding to the violence, the Bush administration has returned to the United Nations -- a body spurned in the buildup to the war in Iraq -- to try to secure a mandate that would encourage other countries to send troops to help in the battles and tasks that lie ahead.
General Mills employees who take the seven-week course learn the basics of meditation and yoga, as well as the importance of focusing on the moment rather than all the tasks that lie ahead during the workday.
"America, for all that we've endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this," he said, "the shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong".
