Fiat Lux
   

No matter how I try to be ''worldly'' and think globally I am shaped by my placement. I am in the northern hemisphere. The days grow shorter and colder now as we are in November. Daylight Savings Time has ended for this year ( a matter my 87 year old father will never quit grumbling about and insisting  it is ridiculous and should be ceased). The  mornings get light later and it is a slower, subtler way the day dawns. the  afternoon dims quickly and the night drops like a dark curtain upon the early evening.

 Of winter's lifeless world each tree
Now seems a perfect part;
Yet each one holds summer's secret
Deep down within its heart.
~Charles G. Stater

 Now winter nights enlarge
The number of their hours;
And clouds their storms discharge
Upon the airy towers.
~Thomas Campion

 We huddle indoors to  seek the warmth of shelter and  man-made heat. I see fewer and fewer people out in the parks and trails and woodlands, few dressing in layers to breath the fresh air and be among the trees and at water's edge.

Humans have ALWAYS struggled with the cold dark seasons.

Hannukkah for Hebrews, Bodhi Day to the Buddhists, pagan Yule, Soyal for the Zuni and Hopi, Saxon Solstice saturnalia, Dies Natalis Solis Invicti from the late Roman Empire, Loy Krathong in Thailand, Diwali in India, Chinese Dongzhi Festival, Yalda to Persians, Pancha Ganapati for Hindu Lord Ganesha just names a few of the celebrations the human family gathers to celebrate and HOPE and light candles , lanterns and souls in the winter season, this same season Christians  have so many candles and lights to  faithfully tend and lift up with anticipation of the  rebirth to come. It is the deepest, darkest midwinter that calls the faithful to look for spring and light and resurrection to come. Faith is the tiny candle shining in the cold dark trusting , seeking hoping that the blazing warm sun will rise and return.

The journey through the seasons may seem long but the earth and sun have their set revolutions and rotations and spring will inevitably follow winter.

 The sun is always in it's heaven. We hold the light in our heart. Our human bodies are just shells illumined by the light of the universe.

Look to the heavens, look to future, hold tight to the belief the sun will continue to rise and yes, spring will return, be strong and faithful human as you view the seasons and cycles of the universe