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23.12.21
Therefore a person shall so square the circle
And circle the square as not to injure, not to impede:
The glow of life shall not daze,
Yet shall guide.
~Lao Tsu
Hello Dear Readers All!
That glow of life is inside us, all around us, even in the long dark nights. The small flames of candles, the pulsing breath of embers in a fading cozy fire, the glimpse of the far flung stars in the darkest of night skies, the light in our eyes, all of us, seeing the light in each of us. Let it shine!
For many years my family sang Christmas carols around my mother’s piano. She played; we all knew the words, even some harmonies. The one that often made me cry so much I could not sing was “It Came Upon A Midnight Clear.” This verse broke my voice, breaks my heart, for it still haunts me:
“And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing; –
Oh, rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing!”
Though I have not been able to muster a full belief in angels, I love to imagine they hover at some great, all-seeing heights; they care; they inspire hope; they send love. Their power might be in the flicker of a butterfly’s wing beginning a cascade of events that changes a whole world. They might be silvering the lining of the dark clouds over us now. They are circling the square and squaring the circle.
For those who work to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice, it is useful to imagine helpers, to shape their powers that we may form our plans, find our resources, make our connections with like-minded people. Imagining angels inspires us to raise our eyes to the sky, and thereby see the infinite while our feet are still planted firmly on the ground.
A few weeks ago, when I was swimming in a pond, I noted the mid-afternoon sun so much further south on the horizon. It was the first time I really felt the earth tilting away from the sun, seeming to give it a backward glance. The light gets thinner, more fragile, a shimmer, not a ray. Onward to embrace the dark, and savor the light wherever we find it!
Wishing you all a new year full of hope, good health and great success in your good work~
Rachael |
