On This Night

On this night…

Some carry on with the tasks of daily living: cashiers and nurses, ship crew and bus drivers, prison guards and rescue workers, volunteers and farmers, mothers and fathers.

On this night…

Others gather in churches, singing familiar carols, hearing the birth story once again, and holding the candles of light and hope.

On this night…

Many travel to be with loved ones, some are content remaining home, others reluctantly change plans and stay home because weather or finances or life’s challenges rearranging the best laid plans.

For one, for all… Light has come.

For one, for all… Love is born.

For one, for all… Hope is given.

Christmas Blessings to you, wherever you find yourself!

 

 

 

 

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A Lot of Winter for the Winter Solstice

Winter officially began today though we’ve been having winter weather for about 3 weeks.  Tonight was to have been our 5th Annual Winter Solstice Bonfire ~ complete with luminarias lighting the way to the roaring fire, hot cocoa and wassail, Christmas cookies and lights in the barn.  But lo, we have lots of winter here: we’re now in a blizzard warning and the wind chill is 7 below.  So we’re staying off the roads and in our homes where it’s safe and warm (warm as long as my furnace keeps working but that’s another story…)

Here’s a photo of the barn buried in snow as sun sets on this wintry day:

Notice the snow around the window ~ it takes lots of wind to pile the snow like that…

 

                                              

In darkness and in light, in warmth and in cold, in stillness and in windy days, may the blessings of this season find their way to your heart!

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Just A Spark

 

Come join the Poetry Party!

 

Just a Spark

 

O heaven and earth,

in this season of Advent,

of anticipation and waiting,

of carols and candles,

bring again Your spark

of Light and Hope

that You may

light the deep dark,

enter the despair,

sit with the doubts,

caress the fears,

ease the depression.

I ask only for a spark,

enough to splash colors of

rose and burgundy and violet

across my barren soul.

 

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Advent Wilderness

I keep thinking about the cozy Advent that is alluding me.  When I yearn for this…

     

I seem to get this instead….

 

This brings to mind a poem I wrote a few years ago, lo ~ it still applies…   

In these days of Advent I find that I am still in the wilderness.

 

My preference for Advent is

    contemplative music and candles,

    babies leaping in mothers’ wombs

    and tucking baby Jesus in the bread box til Christmas Eve.

Instead I feel Your call to be about “John the Baptist” work ~

    a voice crying in the wilderness

    making the crooked path straight

    making the rough way smooth

 

Where did his voice come from?

How did he learn to use it?

Did he have to get permission before speaking?

 

Heavens no! Or, rather – heavens yes!

His voice was heaven-given, granted, ordained.

So he used it. To prepare the way.

 

Are You not calling me to claim the voice You granted me at birth,

    ordained at my ordination?

A voice that speaks up

    in the wilderness of the disability process,

    in the wilderness of managing pain while seeking wholeness,

    in the wilderness of a culture that

          chooses loud over contemplative,

          burns a hundred electric lights rather than 3 white candles,

          doesn’t value babies leaping in wombs

          won’t acknowledge Jesus as the Bread of Life

 

Behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness ,and speak tenderly to her.

Oh, there You are, present and waiting, in the wilderness ~

    Offering Light in the candles

    Singing Love in the music

    Birthing Faith in the womb

    Nourishing Life with bread

 

And by Your voice we hear, Emmanuel, God-with-us.

                                  

                                                            

Still singing my way through the wilderness of Advent. 

And you?

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