Over the years, literally the past 30 years, I have had the chance to spend a number of holidays with my wife’s family in a little village in NE Vermont; the location is set “facing” east, looking over the Connecticut River valley towards the White Mountains of New Hampshire. This holiday tradition has become precious to our family, and we have just returned from an incredible white Christmas in those New England Mountains, sharing it with three generations of our family. While the beauty of the snow, the quaintness of the little village, and the family time all together were again exceptional, the sunrises over the Mount Moosilauke this year (three of the sunrises from this year are pictured here) caught me on a number of levels.
The bitter cold early morning temperatures seemed to provide an incredibly “clear” view of the beautiful early light, reflected off the clouds, the mountains, and across the snowy ground as it spread into the day, lighting our world. It also struck me to think that while my view was exactly the same every morning… same spot, same angle, same phone camera, etc., the sunrise was unique and totally different and unique EVERY day. It’s this idea or dynamic that I want to focus on as we start 2025!
How ever you want to think about it, 2024 was a tough ride broadly across our country and our world, and a year of change and challenge for me personally. As I look back at the essays I posted across 2024, I often reference the challenges, divisions and issues facing us broadly or me personally, an authentic picture of the dynamics of the moment. While true and accurate ( I have no drive to go back and “re-edit” any of the essays posted last year) I am reminded of the tremendous quote from Dr. King’s Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech…
“I refuse to accept the idea that the “isness” of man’s present nature makes him morally incapable of reaching up for the eternal “oughtness” that forever confronts him. I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsam and jetsam in the river of life, unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him”
This idea came back to me on the snowy porch in Vermont last week… and the “new possibilities” that every dawn brings with it! Regardless of the “isness” of the challenges of today (or of 2024), we are NOT “stuck” in the reality of today. We are NOT floating as “mere flotsam and jetsam” in this life of ours, sleepwalking through day after day… dawn after dawn! We have the ability and the possibility to make tomorrow different (and better) than yesterday in whatever way YOU/WE define as “better.”
I am inspired once again by Dr. King's words, and the freshness of those cold, beautiful Vermont sunrises. My encouragement to you as you dive into 2025… one day at a time…. one dawn at a time ... is that you find fresh inspiration to influence and affect “the river of life” that we all share!
p.s. the following picture is from the back porch of our cabin in North Carolina… the first sunrise of 2025 taken this morning… a dawn filled with possibilities & potential... Happy New Year!!
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