The Big Picture Is Amazingly Beautiful

I love New Year's Day. I've said that it is my favorite day of the year but then I was quickly reminded that it isn't. It's my second. I forgot that I'm a big fan of my birthday.

For the first few hours of New Year's Day, I've won the lottery. I like to wait as long as I can hold out to check my ticket because from the moment my eyes see the light of the new day, I'm a big winner. And I'm gonna send this kid and that kid to college and buy land and horses and give this person that much and this person this much and give 25% to climate causes, 25% to poor kids, 25% to Farm Aid and then have supper at my house with Willy Nelson and Bruce Springsteen. They're big Farm Aid supporters you know.

But then I check my ticket and I go back to just being grateful for what it is that I do have and not so worried about tax ramifications.

New Year's Day. It's a fresh baited hook. It's when you're coming around a mountain and you can't wait to see the view. It's an ultrasound really. A small part of a bigger picture. Like a little match that can light a fire of hope. Of possibility. Turn a maybe to a gonna. There's no other day of the year that makes you think "Oh, yes I can" more than New Year's will.

I don't like resolutions. Can't stand the pressure. But I do like the promise that comes with New Year's that we all make to ourselves in some sort of way - This Year Will Be Different. It's our universal wish to make the year better somehow.

My eyes turn to crystal balls on New Year's Day and when I look through them, I see a year ahead that is bright and fantastic. I can't see the details, but on today, the big picture is amazingly beautiful.