Wondrous Signs
Now is the time of year when we hear time and again that these are days of wonder. Whether in the secular or religious spheres, these are times when lives change.
Here.
Now.
In these very present days.
Lives begin. Lives end. Every life changes as no two days are the same.
In the religious world there are feasts which celebrate light. That, in itself, is a wondrous thing in the Northern hemisphere this time of year. The little known Santa Lucia festival is celebrated in Scandinavia. The original St. Lucy was known for smuggling food to Christians hiding in Roman catacombs. She found her way by lighting a wreath of candles on her head. It’s a joy to see light and feel the warmth of the festival on a dark December day.
Likewise, the festival of Hanukkah celebrates the lights of the Temple. To imagine that enough oil for one day could stay lit for eight days is truly miraculous. Especially since that lighting of the cruse of oil is commemorated at the time of year when the days are shortest.
My opinion is that both festivals celebrate an unseen, unknowable and unfathomable light given to humans. These are signs and wonders beyond mere human comprehension. Keeping humans alive with bread and oil in the darkest times restores faith to our souls.
The most famous festival with lights at this time of year is Christmas. Days and weeks before Christmas there are lights of every color in homes, on trees, in stores and public places. Candles in windows light up the night. The purpose of those candles, of all of those lights, is to represent the light of the Spirit in the world. Small flickering lights remind us of one great unwavering Light.
In the spiritual yet not as religious sphere there are other wondrous signs at this time of year. We have the winter solstice, the new moon, Mercury and other planets going retrograde and what that means. There are snowstorms and blizzards. Lakes freeze. Rivers overflow their banks.
Lives pause. Regardless of our plans we discover that nature will have her way. That we will have whatever weather we are meant to have. Whatever our plans for our days, they may be completely upended by the natural order of life.
Lives change in unexpected ways.
Wounded humans receive wondrous signs.
The normal changes of ordinary days pile on top of huge, unexpected changes. We see the signs that tell us to expect the birth of a child, the rebirth of the world each Spring. We can’t always see the signs that someone is about to leave this life to return Home. That happened to me this year. The shocking news of the death of an old friend still has me stunned on the human level. On the spiritual level, I’m jealous that she got to go Home and left me behind.
How we experience deaths, illnesses, losses of other people and material goods in our lives is unique to each of us. We are each wounded in the specific ways we have been wounded. In ways unseen and unknown to anyone else. Sometimes, much to their dismay, it is no one else’s business what the particulars are of our lives.
We, however, have to respect our own lives. How? By accepting the fact that we receive unseen and unexpected Grace. Each moment of our lives the grace of Grace is given us. It’s a gift. Only better than anything we could receive for Christmas or a birthday.
There’s no reason we have to see it in the way we want. Thinking we’re supposed to get a Ferrari sports coupe doesn’t mean we need it. I’ve long said that because of the work God’s had me do in this life that I have no plans to die. I do expect the prophet Elijah to show up in a gold Rolls Royce and carry me off to the heavens.
Considering what Elijah went through before the chariot of fire came for him, I think settling for a Rolls Royce is fair.
The wondrousness of it all is that it doesn’t matter. It never has. What matters is the gift of the present. The miracle of the moment. Not needing to have a whole day when it’s enough to have one second of time.
We end a day or a year the same way. With one second.
It is also how we receive Grace to begin another day and year.
