Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Return of the Light

Many references to the light have come to me as I continue to walk through the darkness that evil can bring to one's life. My spirits were brightened this morning (Dec. 23) by the sunshine reflecting off the snow and the ice on the spruce trees that surround my farm home. My perch in the dining room offers me a view of the snow-covered orchard and a bird feeder offering sunflower seeds to a host of birds. Yesterday's winds have subsided and left random piles of snow, dotted with the ever-present pine cones and branches and pine needles. In all seasons, not a day goes by that I don't feel grateful for this place where I have been planted.
My oldest brother Steve and his wife Johanna created these ice candles to welcome the light in the Alaskan north where the winter darkness is even more pervasive. Our church family is working through its grief by planning a ceremonial sharing of the light on the night before we re-enter our sanctuary as a group for reconsecration. Perhaps similar icy sculptures will line the sidewalks that night (Jan. 5).

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