Excerpted from “The Light Within” 2023 SJF
Last week, I wrote about the darkness and grief many of us felt for the world—pain compounded by personal losses. Then, miraculously, my darkness began to lift, due to no special wisdom on my part. Maybe the Light of the holidays entered the cracks in my heart.
A book that changed my life
Or, the Light that lives within started to wake up.
One of my favorite books is Jacques Lusseyran’s profoundly moving memoir And There Was Light, about his time in the French Resistance during World War II. Blinded as a child, Lusseryan could “see” what others could not. He used his gift to sense whom to trust and admit into the Resistance.
For years, I’ve lived with the power in his last paragraph:
“The first [truth] is that joy does not come from outside, for whatever happens to us it is within. The second truth is that light does not come to us from without. Light is in us, even if we have no eyes.”
We need all the Light we can muster
2023 was challenging on a global and personal front. Rumors are that seismic global stresses and changes will continue in 2024.
I plan to use the time between the winter solstice and the new year to reflect, rejoice for all that is good, release some old, unneeded stories I still carry, and fortify the Light within.
I hope you use the time for some soul-strengthening as well. We need all the Light we can muster for the year ahead.
On this solstice day, I send you blessings, great gratitude for your walking this trail with me, and hope that your holidays will sparkle in a way that feeds your spirit—whatever form that takes for you.
See you in 2024.
“Sparkle” 2023 SJF
