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Hello again, friends. Thanks for joining me for these few minutes. May this be a good day for all of us.

So. It was just a few days ago, and I was into my early morning ritual: check the TV for any news updates; then pick up the current book I’m reading and enjoy my must-have cup of Joe.  I really miss an early morning newspaper. 

My place at the small round top glass table in the kitchen space allows me to look out a window into our backyard, and across the fields to the wooded area beyond. 

Then the morning’s first magnificent moment occurred: the sun began rising over the trees. I am always filled with a bit of awe and wonder each time I experience this. No wonder I so love the hymn “Morning Has Broken.”  

Now. Let me change course here a bit, but I will come back to the sunrise.  

Perhaps, probably, most of you remember the Broadway musical “Cats.” There is a song from that wonderfully different show titled “Memories.” It’s a truly iconic song. Truly.

Let me share just a few of the lyrics with you: “Turn your face to the moonlight. Let your memory lead you. Open up, enter in. If you find there/ The meaning of what happiness is/ Then a new life will begin.” 

I really wish I had space to include all the soulful words. It’s a lamentation about that which is lost; but also about happiness, and love, and how in your memory these emotions can live again. 

Back to the sunrise. It was on a cold winter morning, so of course there wasn’t the effulgence we would expect during warmer times. Just the same, it was movingly beautiful.  

While feeling blessed just to be alive and to see and experience such a sight, the last lines of the song from the aforementioned musical came into my consciousness with clarity:

“Look, a new day/ Has begun.”

Please allow me to add that come January 20, we who love our country can also exclaim,  “Look, a new day has begun.”

Blessings to each of you.