As I’ve mentioned here before, one of the richest memories of my life is how I used to get up at 5:30 in the morning with my dad. It was our time. We’d eat GrapeNuts and tell each other about the miracle(s) we’d seen the day before. I still try to like GrapeNuts and I still try to look for miracles every day.
Finding the miracles has been harder for me lately. I might notice (my word for 2015) lovely people, places, or things, but I’ve allowed circumstances, over which I feel powerless, to cloud my ability to recognize them as miracles. That’s gotta change.
Here’s how I’m going to change it. Yes/And. I completely accept the reality that YES there are many things going on the world, over which I have no control. AND while I continue to attend to what I can, I’m going to focus on the light, the good, the possible,along with the people doing the light, good, and possible.
YES, the divisions, gloom, fear, and darkness will still be around. My focus, however, will not be as glued to it, as it has been lately. I’m going to focus on the power of miracles. When I find myself tempted to dwell in the negative longer than is necessary, I’m going to seek out AND people, places, and things. AND people, places and things are the miracles Daddy and I used to share with each other daily. I’ll share some of them with you, here.
I love rituals. They bring me comfort, peace, and help me acknowledge shifts in the seasons of my life. This week, I got to observe two of my favorite rituals. Advent and my first fire of the year.
In my faith language, Advent is the season preceding Christmas. It’s the season I get to WAIT for the miracle.
I love how both of these rituals are about light. On this second Sunday of Advent and the morning after my first home fire, I am committed to look for The Light; feel The Light; and when possible, Be The Light.
How about you? When have you seen, felt or been The Light?
Lisa’s Cheap Therapy blog 
Oh my goodness! your Advent ‘wreath’ is exactly like the one I have — except mine is all clogged up with wax from burned down candles. Note to self: clean it up and get some new candles today!! My ‘light’ (besides my wonderful and lovely Christmas tree) is ‘lightening up’ my house by getting rid of things I do not use any longer, and giving away things that can be a pleasure or comfort to others. My goal is to shrink my belongings to an amount I could accommodate in a three- or two-bedroom apartment, with the intention to move nearer to my kids sometime in the next couple of years. The goal is not very specific, but my household overload is specific all right! I am the residual owner of my Mom’s many treasured possessions and mementos, and I also have quite an accumulation of my own in my small 3-bedroom house with garage. I KNOW I can’t keep it all, and I am sure I don’t want my kids to be faced with actual tons of my ‘stuff’ one day. The giant fabric stash? Well that can be donated to a sewing guild. But the rest of the too-much crockery, clothes, books, furniture and random ‘stuff’ needs to be LIGHTENED UP. I want to be able to travel LIGHT, I want the burden to be LIGHT both for me and for my kids. I want to cultivate a habit of gracefully and gratefully letting go of things, because I have seen how all but a very few things must be let go as we age. I want to see a little light between objects and shelves and stacks and shelves of things, so that what I do most care about and enjoy will shine a little brighter.
I feel the Light every time I’m in your presence Lisa. You glow with it!