“Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmastime.”― Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Beauty can hold our gaze for a moment of perfect stillness. Then, when it is done dismantling us, beauty can bring us back to ourselves with a wider gaze and a surer sense of connection to every living thing, ready to engage the divine work of creating more beauty in the world, more justice and true love.”— Barbara Brown Taylor, Always A Guest: Speaking of Faith Far From Home
This time of the year is both beautiful and difficult.
Missing those not here.
Unmet expectations.
Disappointments.
Allow both beauty and struggle, the human condition.
They coexist.
Lean on beauty, connection, love.
Invite color and light in.
To open you up to see what remains, to anticipation of what will come.
A wider gaze, the one of children.
The masters of Christmas.
Hope, peace, joy – a state of mind, a way to live.
“Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ”― Mary Ellen Chase