Feeling the light of the season

Earlier in the week, I had yet another beautiful experience with the eternal light – this time through a grocery delivery person. After this young man delivered my food, we chatted a bit. He told me he was looking for a new job. Before becoming a delivery man, he worked in law enforcement, where one of his assignments was to stand by during the riots in 2020. He was peacefully present and on watch, just doing his job, when an angry rioter beat him with a baseball bat, shattering the bones in his knees and legs. Although he recovered, he could no longer be on his feet for long periods. He carried no vibe of victimization, no hatred, no regret, and no bitterness whatsoever. He just wanted to keep helping people and do good in the world. I wanted to cry for the beauty of this soul who chose to love.

The light of the season is always here, waiting for us, like this young man, to choose love over hatred, faith over fear, and kindness over retribution.

The light is there when you’re surrounded by those you love and, as well, when you’re lonely. The light is there in the trimmings, candles, and presents and in the most humble yet heartfelt handmade notes. The light is in the grand gatherings filled with song and celebration and in a bird singing sweetly on a wintry morning. There is never a time or place, humble or grand, without this light. It lives within and behind all things.

I have felt this light when surrounded by decorations, food, and friends, and I felt it after my divorce years ago when I was alone in an apartment with a few lights and a tiny tree. I have felt it while snuggled up in Christmas jammies drinking cocoa with loved ones, and I have experienced it on a barren desert trail with barely another soul around.

We don’t need conditions to be “right” to feel unconditional love.

The gift we truly crave – the gift beneath all other gifts –  is to feel the love that lives and breathes inside us. We want to receive it. Even more so, we crave the ability to share it. We feel like our most authentic, most beautiful selves when we share love, be it via a smile, a hug, a gift, or just letting someone get in front of us in holiday traffic.

Often, but especially during this season, I sit in silence after the celebrations are over and the house is quiet. I look at the lights, quiet my mind, and sit in appreciation for life. As I consciously focus on all that is beautiful in me, my life, and the world, I start to melt into the ever-present embrace of the angels.

I’ve no longer doubt the constancy of heavenly love. I’ve learned to stop putting conditions on myself when this love is unconditional. I am worthy. You are worthy. Worthiness isn’t even an issue heaven considers. Whatever you did or didn’t do, whomever you are with or missing, whatever you are proud of or disappointed by, this love never changes. The only thing that changes is whether or not we believe in the gift and let it in. The present is there for us, in the present moment, wrapped, waiting for us to open it.

Perhaps this week, on a silent night, you too can sit and tap into the love that never leaves. If you like, you can take a little time to receive the gift that never stops giving – the Presence of a light that burns brightly throughout creation, now, tomorrow, and forever, throughout the ages.

Here are a few tips to help you feel the Gift of the Light we celebrate…

1. Stop. Breathe. Appreciate Yourself

The easiest way to start feeling the light is to appreciate or acknowledge yourself. Take a moment. Appreciate who you are and how you’ve grown, persevered, and worked hard to love when it wasn’t easy. Forget your perceived flaws or failures, and acknowledge your strengths. Bask in knowing that you are endless light in the form of an expanding being. Imagine that light within you. Move your arm and imagine the light flowing upward. Rotate your shoulders and feel the paths of light loosening up so it can flow through your body easily. Breathe in contentment. At this moment, this very moment, all is well.

There are no conditions that can stop unconditional love. It is there for you, with you, and in you. Appreciate its presence within you.

2. Treasure a memory
The holidays are a good time for nostalgia. Recall a happy memory. Just ask for a beautiful memory to bubble up inside and of you and see what shows up. Instead of mourning that it is in the past, relish that you lived it. You had that treasured experience. On the highway of eternity, you stopped for a moment to enjoy the scenery, and the moment stayed with you forever. It is one of the few things you can take with you.

Treasure a beautiful memory as you would treasure your favorite ornament or holiday decoration. Like these decorations, we can take our memories out, appreciate them, and still remain open to more.

3. Sit in silence and just “be”

Find a quiet moment. Breathe and feel the miracle of the breath moving into and out of your lungs. Look around. Notice and appreciate your surroundings, whatever they are, with feeling. Just look. Imagine the One light within all the things, invisible but present. Imagine the Creator’s love in everything around you. The boots at the door are manifestations of love providing love and warmth for your feet. The food on the tables is love to nourish you. All is love.

Imagine that first silent night. Imagine the peaceful quiet without the whir of technology. Imagine the bright starry sky overhead, the animals settling down for the night, and not a sound except the shuffling of the sheep shifting to find comfort in the hay. Feel the peace of that first Christmas.

Now, imagine the silent night in the temple, where battle-weary but victorious, exhausted with adrenaline still flowing, you watch the miracle of the lamp and weep with gratitude for the return to peace. Feel the relief, the peace, and the blessing that gave birth to Hanukkah

Imagine next, the first fruits on the vine, waiting as a present from Mother nature to nourish and feed her children. Feel the values of Kwanzaa embodied in your own body, mind, and soul, for you are also part of nature and share her unity and strength.

In a moment of stillness, perhaps on a soon-to-be silent night, allow yourself to receive and feel the light we celebrate. Always there, without condition, it flows from the invisible realms into our experience. With our consent, it flows to us and, through our open hearts, becomes a gift to this world. You are a gift to yourself, me, and life itself. I celebrate all of you and your light during this holiday season.