A new year lies at our feet. And what will it bring?

But maybe a more important observation lies in the fact that this day - this particular day lay ahead and continues as we read. What is it bringing? What will it yet bring? Am I even noticing?

When we actually get around to thinking about the year ahead, we sometimes forget that there is a day – this particular day, to which we also ought to be paying attention.

Frederick Buechner writes of the specialness of this particular day in our life: – “It is a moment of light surround on all sides by darkness and oblivion.  In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another just like it and there will never be another just like it again.  It is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth.  It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death. “

And so, we should be aware, pay attention, treasure it.

Buechner continues: - “If you were aware of how precious it is, you could hardly live through it.  Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all.”

Hardly living at all. Am I hardly living at all? Are you? And are we wasting it, actually?

“If you waste it, it is your life that you're wasting.  If you look the other way, it may be the moment you've been waiting for always that you're missing.  Today is the only day there is."

Instead of saying, “Pay attention!!!” Buechner profoundly sees and says it from the opposite view: - “If you look the other way . . .”

So many directions, so many distractions. It’s easy to miss it all, to miss out, to miss our life – this day’s life.

Says the Psalmist - "This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice - and be glad in it." Not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today --

The. Only. Day. There. Is.