… watching for the brushstrokes of God
When day comes we ask ourselves,
where can we find light in this never-ending shade?
…
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace
And the norms and notions
of what just is
Isn’t always just-ice
…
When day comes we step out of the shade
aflame and unafraid
The new day blooms as we free it
For there is always light
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.
~ Amanda Gorman, excerpts from Inauguration Poem 2021
Are you brave enough?
The light of fireflies grows and glows underground for 300 days before emerging transformed into the summer night. Rising on its wings, its light, long hidden, released to dance under midnight stars.
What light nurtured within you is ready to illumine the night?
“How will next year be for me? Where will I be five or ten years from now?” There are no answers to these questions. Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.” Henri Nouwen
How much light is enough this New Year?
I will light candles this Christmas,
Candles of joy despite all the sadness,
Candles of hope where despair keeps watch,
Candles of courage for fears ever present,
Candles of peace for tempest-tossed days,
Candles of grace to ease heavy burdens,
Candles of love to inspire all my living,
Candles that will burn all year long. ~Howard Thurman
What candle will you light?
“Mostly we have just enough light to see the next step: what we have to do in the coming hour or the following day. The art of living is to enjoy what we can see and not complain about what remains in the dark. When we are able to take the next step with the trust that we will have enough light for the step that follows, we can walk through life with joy and be surprised at how far we go. Let’s rejoice in the little light we carry and not ask for the great beam that would take all shadows away.” Henri Nouwen
Do you trust the light you have?
“Take the Christmas story. …we can tell it as a story about darkness giving birth to light, about seemingly endless waiting, and about that which lies at the end of all our waiting… darkness can become the tending place in which our longings for healing, justice, and peace grow and come to birth.” Jan Richardson, Night Visions
How many ways do you tell the story?
With the Eyes of the Heart 