There is a natural excitement that seems to build on New Year's Eve. As the minutes tick down to the ball dropping in Time Square, I feel this building enthusiasm for the next year and the upcoming days. It is almost as though anything I dream can and will be in the upcoming year. There are no restraints. If I think I will loose 20 pounds or 200 pounds, I can do it! If this is the year that I will pay off all of my debt, then it will happen. The pessimist and realist voices in my head seem to turn off for this one night, and I write down my BFDs (Big Fat Dreams) for the upcoming year with zeal and enthusiasm.
I am struck by the realization that this is possibly a daily thing for children. Each night is the eve of all new possibilities and adventures that are untarnished by any touch of reality or doubt. And, furthermore, isn't this how I should view each new day? Why do I save this feeling of freedom for only one night a year?
Martin Luther wrote (loosely paraphrased) that each morning he washed his face and was reminded of his baptism. The baptism that marked a cleansing of his "old self" and the beginning of a clean self for the day ahead. New Year's Eve marks the very pointed ritual of closing our last chapter/year and the beginning of a new one with dreams and ambition for being better and doing better.
I do not need a ball to drop in Time Square to have this kind of hope and enthusiasm. (Although, it would be kinda cool if I could have one in our backyard to drop each evening to cue the children to go to bed!) So, for this new and exciting year of 2011, my first BFD is to remember with each face wash that I am made clean and new. Today is filled with possibility. And, if tomorrow fails to live up to my dreams, I am going to remember that tomorrow is a new day with all new possibilities and adventures.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118:24
Brian & Tobi
