Today is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day and the longest night of the year. From now until midsummer, the light slowly comes back into the world, shrinking the dark by seconds and minutes. There’s a reason the liturgical calendar also celebrates the birth of Christ this time of year. He, too, brought light back into the world. And then we have Santa Claus, who brings magic and wonder into the world. Yes, I still believe in the jolly old elf. And I especially believe in the wonder and magic of season.
I’ll also admit that sometimes, I lose the feeling of the season. The hustle and bustle. Life. Stress. Time running short. This. That. Whatever. And then I stop. Take a moment. And I see a child standing in line to whisper to Santa their most fervant wish for Christmas. Or I glimpse them behind the window of a car as their parents drive through a wonderland of lights and decorations. Or I help my grandson place shining ornaments on the tree and when the time is right, the lights are off as we wait in the dark on this longest of nights, and flip the switch. Light returns, from the star on the top to the twinlking lights twining through the branches, glittering ornaments gleaming. Yeah…the Universe agrees.
Laced throughout every day of your life, Silver, are hidden highways of opportunity, invisible crossroads of time, and avenues for great personal transformation that, if only traveled upon, would reveal the extraordinary, the sublime, and the unexpected.
Yet most slip by undetected until there is first a childlike wonder at the ordinary, the routine, and the expected.
Hot diggity-dog,
The Universe
©www.tut.comP.S. After all, it’s usually a dirt road, Silver, that leads to the diamond mine.
In addition to the whole believing in Santa Claus, I’m an advocate for taking the way less traveled. Sometimes, when you come to a fork in the road, you should just take it. That’s according to Yogi Berra. He also said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.” I have the feeling Yogi and the Big U sit around up there and chat from time to time. Anyway, when Life wears you down, look at the ordinary, the routine, and the expected through the eyes of a child. And when you find childlike wonder, go drive down a dirt road. Who knows? You might just find a diamond…
Silver James 