Practical Spirituality and the Season of Lights

It is almost winter again. December is the last month of the year when most of the Season of Lights Festivals are celebrated. These festivals celebrate the fact that the light only begins to return to its full strength again when the seasons are darkest, the night is the longest, and the winter is the coldest. We do rituals and remembrances to remember that this doesn't only happen in nature, but in our personal lives.

I hope that you will remember, this season, that your life will get better. No matter how down you feel, or how cold or scary the circumstances, if you hold on your life will get better. A bright shinning light from somewhere deep in your psyche, from the universe, or from God will break through the darkness, and if you just hold onto that light and warmth it will get brighter and brighter leading you to the beauty of spring and the full growth of summer.

Just hold on, my friends, and keep looking up and within, for your redemption draws near. Do you believe in miracles? You should because miracles always happen in one way or the other--I have seen them in my own life and in the lives of many. You can have peace in the midst of the storm if you realize that out of the darkness and death life and light is born if we choose to make it so.

Find the strength within, a good community, and good friends, who will help you do so. Because miracles, and being whole and happy, are not necessarily about being comfortable, or rich, or even physically healthy, they are about being happy, healed, and joyful on the inside so that you may face life with a pleasant feeling in your heart and joy woven throughout your psyche no matter what the circumstance. This is the true miracle that can be discovered much more easily in a community that also recognizes that with courage and understanding we have the power to create life out of the most desperate moments time, after time, after time.