Happy New Year! For me, 2021 is already feeling a little different with mixed emotions.
On the one hand we still navigate the challenges of a pandemic that is volatile and tests our resolve, but on the other hand, there is hope and the glimmer of a world beyond the strains of a pandemic. The promise of a vaccine has arrived, and with that the potential for new life-giving opportunities can begin to begin to take root. If we have not already, plans and dreams of a post-pandemic world can begin to form - if we dare.
Life is still a rollercoaster at the start of this new year. The idea of a post pandemic world may still be a distant pipe dream for some, but for others, perhaps the dawn of a new year has allowed us to dream. To dare to look beyond a pandemic to a world and way of living that is fuller and more life giving.
There will always be dreamers, regardless of how traumatic the world may be. We need them, and we need them now more than ever. A long time ago, “In the days of King Herod” as Matthew’s gospel reminds us, there were at least three dreamers known as Wise People who dared to dream of a better life not just for them, but for the world. Living in a time of great threat, turmoil, and oppression under the reign of King Herod, dreams were few and far between, but because these three followed a star to see if there was any possibility that their dreams can become a reality, we too can dream. We too can follow our star, our guides through life, and dare to dream of a better world, of a “normal” world, however “normal” may look.
