The sun will rise over the frozen lake tomorrow, new and brilliant as always. A new day and a new year bound up in one gift to celebrate and to steward.

This marker of time is arbitrary, truly, and yet we need these waypoints to remember what has gone before, to anticipate what may come and to reset our lives and our souls.

Like most of us, I am setting some goals for the new year. I aim to be more aware of God’s presence and activity throughout the day. To be a better encourager. To write prayerfully. To look for the good in people and circumstances. To practice gratitude.

I also have some more measurable goals: to plan healthier meals, organize my time better, and to read more intentionally.

Our goals – indeed, our whole lives – are met and made in the daily and hourly choices we make. Like the turning of the calendar to a new year, we are also marked by our turnings: away from negativity and towards gratitude, away from mindless distraction and towards purpose, away from fear of what may happen tomorrow and towards the gift of today. We turn from darkness to light, from apathy to love, from worry to rest, from despair to hope.

Whether we make resolutions or not, we still make these choices, which then make our days, which add up to our lives, of which we have only one. Whatever has gone before, we have this new day and this new year before us. The Bible tells us that God’s mercies are new every morning. That is not something to take lightly.

This life we live, we live in the moments. In the grand parade of history there is this moment, this morning. This grace. I breathe it in and face the sunrise.