It's The Most Wonderful...and gloomy...Time Of The Year
At the deepest darkest part of the winter season, when ghosts of holidays past and longing for the warmth and brilliance of the sun leaves many feeling lost and alone, what is one to do with the gloom? One of my physician colleagues, a family practice doctor and mom, was telling me last week how much she hated the holidays...her patients were all in crisis, and she felt so many demands for her loving light, that this time every year she felt like the Grinch.
Then I found out that the next full moon is December 22...like the darkest part of the year is being lit up for us, showing us that even when the sun seems so far away, it’s radiance is reflected for us always. And we take the opportunity at the holidays to light up our own world here on Earth in so many ways, from strings of colored bulbs on the trees we decorate, to solemn candles marking the days in devotion and celebration. City streets are awash with the glow from decorative lights in storefronts and brilliant displays of holiday cheer cover homes and businesses.
So maybe it’s like all of our journeys into the darkness, where we have already lit our own way, and the universe where we work and play holds a light that never goes out. Maybe we are just waiting for our heart to let us know that we can hold the darkness and the light, and be more human and more divine because of that holding. That love binds us in surprising and mundane ways, and our hearts - our one heart - holds it all...the dark and the light, the human and divine, the love we give and receive, the gratitude for wisdom and innocence, and every aspect of what we see from our own beautiful eyes.
Maybe if we listen to each other’s stories, even the tough ones, with a heart that remembers our brilliance, we can light each other’s way through this holiday season, like the full moon reflects the warmth, comfort, and constant light of our sun.
From me to you: I hope your holidays are full, and radiant, and reflective of your own special brilliance. Thank you for lighting up our world, and sharing a part of my story. And thanks in advance for sharing your stories with me in the comments...
[Repost from 12/4/2018]