What is it about the start of a new year that makes us so introspective? That makes us want to do something bigger than we’ve even done? That makes us aspire to kinder, gentler, more loving, healthier, more prayerful, thankful, and to be a better person?

A new year gives us hope that our most secret, cherished, and protected dreams can come true. Strange that the magical thinking doesn’t last long. We wish our “Happy  New Years,” make our resolutions, start a project…and then drift back to our familiar routines. The hope that was so strong and present, so palpable, dwindles away.

But right now, in this moment, the blue sky beckons, the Christmas lights still shine out hope and opportunity around the house, and those passionate dreams are possible. How do we hold to that hope?

When we wake up each morning, in that very first moment of consciousness, how can we recognize the miracle we found on the first day of the new year? We find it in that dawn, our hearts need the dawn, the small sliver of rosy light coming over the horizon to illuminate the dark that was night. In that first stillness of wakefulness, everything is possible.