On this first day of 2005, a couple of things have been floating through my soul. The first is a song lyric by Brian Doerksen. The song is "Today:"

Today I choose to follow You
Today I choose to give my yes to You
Today I choose to hear Your voice and live
Today I choose to follow You
Today...

The second is a prayer by Brian Daper:

Today is a new start, and an old finish. A place where tomorrow meets yesterday, where the old and new gather, the point at which two great imaginary oceans meet. White water, undercurrent, danger, beauty.

Of course, from here we have the beauty of hindsight, a vantage point from which to see the past, to chart how very far we've come. And we can always try, at least, to peer forward into the mists of tomorrow, to plot our future course.

But what of now?

Do we have a vision for the here today, before it's gone tomorrow? A glimpse of presence? Can we see what... or who... today holds? Perhaps we have dreamed for too long in the darkness of the night, with our eyes closed shut. We have dreamed of far away things, beyond our reach, beyond our comprehension. As I open my eyes to the world of today, let me dream day dreams. Today dreams. For this is where I belong: right here, right now. I always will do. Forever becoming, forever being transformed into the likeness of Another. Of One who walked before me - who lived and loved before me. Who lived and died before me. Who stands before me now, as I stand before him: Alpha and Omega, the great I Am, who Is and was before the world was made. Who is, and who always will be. A presence that stretches from as far as the eye can see into the smallest detail of the most insignificant day. That stretches from Eden to Sodom to Calvary to God knows where and then right on to me. Here. Now. God is present. God is with us. God is present, and I am present with God.

May I live this day as if it were holy. May I love this day as if someone had loved me enough to die. May I cherish each waking moment as if it were my first. May I dream of transforming my relationships, my community and my world before they've slipped away. May I dream of tomorrow, while dreaming for today.

May it be so. Amen.