Winter Solstice
December 19, 2013
Winter Solstice
On this, the longest night of the year, I think of the long road each of us travels in our time on this earth, none of us guaranteed the advent of tomorrow, each of us prescribed pains and sorrows as if Life itself were a Great Doctor and our souls its patients.
On this, the longest night of the year, I wonder at the indomitability of the human spirit and the lineage upon which we summon our strength to face yet another day.
Empires rise and fall, and with them hope.
We see the surfaces of our lives crack and shatter with a gleaming hardness no distraction can soften, a weariness no comfort can soothe.
Opportunities once thought unlimited become scarce. Friends disappear. What was, isn’t. The long night gets longer.
Dawn feels further away.
On this, the shortest day of the year, I think of the short time we are blessed to be here on earth.
If it is true that we have only this moment, and that future and past are equally non-present, the brevity of this day becomes metaphor and within it, an admonition to enjoy the unstoppable light and be assured of its fluidity and rebirth, the admonition to “be here now”.
On this the shortest day of the year, I gaze into my heart and find gratitude for all that I am – the spinning and spun cycles of my life with all my shortcomings and all my growth.
I gather unto my breast the moments of resolve and the instances of doubt, the cacophony of voices seeking clarity, the wounds that find solace.
On this shortest of days, I take a long look at what I want and why I want it. I take a look around me and nothing comes up short. I lengthen my view and see what I can become by being who I am.
On this longest night of the year, I turn my light on and leave it on longer, unbothered by the cost of electricity, knowing the light I burn this day (and every day) is the light that grows within me, the light that shall never leave me long in the dark.
Happy Solstice!
May your winter be one of contentedness and peace.
One Response to “Winter Solstice”
Jessie • December 19th, 2013 at 8:38 pm
The light that burns in you has helped to illuminate, inspire, and ignite so many others during their brief bouts of darkness. Peace and appreciation, always.