Happy New Year! What a blessing it is to greet you and share these words on the very first day of this new chapter. Today marks a beginning—a moment ripe with possibility and hope.
The word open is both an invitation and a challenge: an invitation to remain open to the beauty, love, and goodness that may unfold, and a challenge to push back against the fear and doubt that often tempt us to close ourselves off.
If I’m honest, the start of the [year] feels heavy, even daunting. I carry fears about what lies ahead, and there’s a part of me that wants to guard my heart, to protect it from disappointment and potential harm, to resist hope. In a world, and a new year, that feels overwhelming and terrifying, remaining open can seem like a risk too great to take.
And yet, remaining open is essential to being alive. Openness allows us to experience joy, to share laughter, to feel the tenderness of love, and to dream new dreams. When I pause to look closely—when I zoom in on the everyday kindness, goodness, and love around me—I see glimmers of hope everywhere. I see the beauty of free stores and food drives, of churches giving meals and toys to families who need them. I see hugs shared, smiles exchanged, and acts of care woven into communities everywhere.
The world is full of beautiful and loving people, even amid its brokenness. These small, seemingly ordinary acts of love remind me of the power of community, the strength of compassion, and the sacredness of connection, amongst people and Earth.
Beloved, this is your reminder to remain open. Open to the dreams that bubble up within you. Open to the beauty that still blooms in unexpected places. Open to the possibility that this year can bring goodness into your life and the lives of others.
You are sacred, holy, and divine. You are worthy of joy, of kindness, and of love. As you start this new year, let the words of Mary Oliver’s poem remind you of the gift of a new morning, the gift of being alive:
Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety–
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
Breath Prayer:
Inhale: Let love, kindness, and beauty come my way
Exhale: I am worthy of it all