A Reflection as the Season Turns

 



This  Season generates a myriad of memories, feelings, hopes, dreams and plans along with  melancholy  for me.  I find myself remembering people that have passed away this year.
Holiday Seasons past included family members in hospital and the funerals of close friends. 
November 2025 brought a birthday that's more eventful than previous ones, a reminder that I'm closer to 80 than 70 and that I'm deep into  the "4th Quarter."  It's sobering to realize that overtime is unlikely in this game.

2025 included shocks to our political/economic context and attacks on democracy itself. The oligarchs' relentless rapid deployment of algorithms to influence every decision we make motivated by unfettered avarice stuns one's sense of humanity. 

An old friend writes about his depression in his 'golden years' due to watching the degradation of decency and morality in the U.S.A. He's certainly not alone is his angst. That said, Tom hit his age on the golf course twice in 2025.

And yet, and yet....this turning of the seasons in nature reminds us that at the darkest time of the winter the sun returns and the short days turn longer.

Light overtakes darkness.
Hope arises.
Faith sustains.
Love triumphs.



These glimpses of light shining through the darkness are here for all of us to notice in the day to day of our own experience........


A visit to St. Louis University brings generations together


A Granddaughter's  High School Choir concert showcases talented, passionate diverse students having a great time celebrating community


A Grandson lights the Advent candles

 Volunteering to assist unhoused people in a warming center brings hope to cold winter days

Inviting  a single neighbor for a Christmas meal with family

Savoring the Dickens Village lights over a cup of coffee

Receiving a note from an old friend in a Holiday Card

Cooking an 80 year old family dish to share at Christmas Eve

Joining grandchildren at a Candlelight service

Writing notes to cousins in Ireland, Minnesota, and Montana

Glimpses of Light....Being the Light 


When  reflecting upon  the day to day life we have, we discover that it's the mundane, practical experiences that shape our own experience and ultimately write history.   When we honor and practice hospitality in the face of conflict, we generate hope.   When we welcome a new person to our community, we counter the "otherness"promoted by social media regarding refugees. When we look a  clerk in the eye and thank them for their service, we send a ripple of gratitude to the universe. 

Each ethical and religious tradition promotes unity, care, and justice in its own way.   My own background expresses  the Christmas Story as God with us,"Emmanuel", inspiring and enabling our connectedness across divides of language, culture, nationality, economic status.  

These moments are glimpses of what Rev. Martin Luther King called"The Beloved Community."  And it's these moments , savored and created,  which sustain us in the New Year and beyond. 

BE THE LIGHT.
 HAPPY NEW YEAR!







  

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