‘Pennsylvania Snow Storm’ flickrcc.net
I look out the window to see millions of snowflakes falling, straight down to the ground. No whipping wind, just a purposeful dance. I am grateful. I can feel its calm, slowing the movements of everything around, muffling its sounds. I sense urgency downshift in my mind. Today will be unhurried. The past few weeks have been busy for me. They have been joyful, but they have pulled my energies outward into the world, while my Higher Self has been calling me to cocoon with my soul. Today I will be in the thickness of this quiet. It’s as if omnipotent hands have covered the ears of this pulsing earth, leaving nothing to hear but its comforting heartbeat. I feel it’s rhythm as my own. And I find me, simply, where there is only myself deeply in communion with me – at last.
Like emerging notes from each new instrument in the layers of a rising symphony, I soon notice my many aspects making their way to find harmony. At first I am a magical child wanting to run into the pile of white fluff and make snow angels, and then I am an animal lover leaving seeds to the birds seeking nourishment. The poet in me announces itself in wanting to create, and the creator in me wants to paint. The joy in me wants to whirl in dance while my tired body needs rest, and my spirit wants to speak through these words when I would like nothing more than to just be. I stay in the now. Slowly rising above these competing desires is a yearning that floods all else with its recurring persistence. It’s been waving through me the last days, and it will not go away until it makes itself fully present to me. It vibrates again through me into clarity and informs me of my greatest need -uncompromised peace. Nothing more and nothing less.
To me, the sentiment of peace always seems most fitting for the holiday season. At this sacred time of year people all over the world are honouring religious observances and personal traditions. What we value is upheld and who we value is embraced more tenderly in our hearts. In our universal celebrations we deepen our global connections. However, I am profoundly sensitive to the fact that our joy, our selflessness, our reconnections and our merriment are jostling with our myriad of memories, expectations, regrets, discomforts, circumstances and changes. Our journeys are not always tidy unfoldings and at times they can be stormy. We are all seeking peace. This inner conflict continually impresses upon us that we have come to live through this human existence to remember and expand our Divine nature.
Through the perspective of my compassionate soul, this contrast is wondrous. I weep in sorrow for what is yet unchanged; children are still raised in the deplorable conditions of slowly developing nations, our neighbours are suffering from wars of separating ideologies, communities live with violence, and individuals are struggling to heal emotional wounds. But I celebrate with awe, our capacity for perseverance, our courage, our generosity in spite of adversity, and our ability to transform darkness into light, hate into friendship, greed into giving, lies into truth, and pain into peace.
The winter solstice, marking the return of the invincible sun after the longest night in the year, is the origin of many of the holy ceremonies in December – Christian, Judaic, Islamic, Druid, Wiccan, Native American, etc. To many it is a reminder of our natural self, an invitation to give birth once again to who we truly are. The word ‘solstice’ is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstice, the sun stands still, declining minimally to the north or south. So as we prepare for the annual event on this very wintery day, never let it be said that Spirit is anything less than serendipitously miraculous. Gift yourself with a pause amidst whatever storm you perceive in your life. Take a moment to know the peace that is you. Then feel the connection with all those around you, near and far. Remember you are one with the sun, and all that is Creation. Yes, let’s all pause in this peace. And may our love blanket this Earth as abundantly as the falling snow.
Peace to you and all your loved ones this holy-day:
Peace (English), Oyong’hwa (Korean), La Pace (Italian), Iri’ni (Greek), Isithangami (Zulu), Pax (Latin), Santiap (Thai), Rerdamaian (Indonesian), Vrede (Dutch), Frieden (German), Fride (Swiss), Quechua Sulh (Turkish), Wâki Ijiwebis-I (Algonquin), Heiwa (Japanese), Amaithi (Tamil), Samoan Fois (Scottish, Gaelic), Kalayaan (Philippines), Khanhaghutyun (Armenian), La Paix (French), Béke (Hungarian), La Paz (Spanish), Maluhia (Hawaiian), Nabad Da (Somali), Pyong’hwa (Korean), Shalom (Hebrew Shîte), Shiy-De (Tibetan), Shanti (Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, Sanskrit)………………
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