Glimmers of New Beginnings

“By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn will break over us from above, to enlighten those who sit under the dark shadow of death, and to guide our feet onto the way of peace.” —Luke 1:78-79

Are you ready to welcome the glimmer of new beginnings?

With fresh fires and Christmas lights,
we mark the darkest days of the rolling year,
and call to mind how everything and everyone starts in the dark.

Dark days augur alienation and danger
yet darkness also draws us together;
a time for dimming our lights so we can see the stars.

This sacred season of birth pangs and beginnings 
offers time to lovingly look back
over a year of gifts, of losses, and of lessons.

—from the book Wandering and Welcome: Meditations for Finding Peace by Joseph Grant