At one of my many church gigs this month I heard a message that caught my ear.  A message of hope.  A blessing to raise us out of the darkness.  I was struck by the universality of the words.  The context was obviously sacred yet there was also a clear secular interpretation.  Winter solstice--the ancient ritual welcoming the light.  Later I googled the author and discovered  the piece was written by Jan Richardson, a writer, artist and Methodist minister.  

Her poem is titled How the Light Comes: A Blessing For Christmas Day.  Contemplate her words this Winter Solstice.  And take whatever meaning you may find into your heart.

I cannot tell you
how the light comes.

What I know
is that it is more ancient
than imagining.

That it travels
across an astounding expanse
to reach us.

That it loves
searching out
what is hidden
what is lost
what is forgotten
or in peril
or in pain.

That it has a fondness
for the body
for finding its way
toward flesh
for tracing the edges
of form
for shining forth
through the eye,
the hand,
the heart.

I cannot tell you
how the light comes,
but that it does.
That it will.
That it works its way
into the deepest dark
that enfolds you,
though it may seem
long ages in coming
or arrive in a shape
you did not foresee.

And so
may we this day
turn ourselves toward it.
May we lift our faces
to let it find us.
May we bend our bodies
to follow the arc it makes.
May we open
and open more
and open still

to the blessed light
that comes.

Midwinter.  The day we say goodbye to darkness and welcome the light.  The solstices and equinoxes signal new seasons.  These seasonal transitions are the perfect times to set personal intentions.  But no transition is more potent than the Winter Solstice.  The symbolism of light's triumph over darkness has resonated with mankind throughout the ages.

The Winter Solstice falls on December 22nd this year, the day the sun is the lowest in the southern sky.  The exact time is 05:30 GMT.  Solstice celebrations have been among the most important festivals since ancient times.   The days grew shorter and shorter until the Solstice when the sun began to rise again.   The light brings hope and the promise of plenty.

"The most exciting thing in Orkney, perhaps in Scotland, is going to happen this afternoon at sunset, in few other places even in Orkney can you see the wide hemisphere of sky in all its plenitude.

The winter sun just hangs over the ridge of the Coolags. Its setting will seal the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice. At this season the sun is a pale wick between two gulfs of darkness. Surely there could be no darker place in the be-wintered world than the interior of Maeshowe.

One of the light rays is caught in this stone web of death. Through the long corridor it has found its way; it splashes the far wall of the chamber. The illumination lasts a few minutes, then is quenched

Winter after winter I never cease to wonder at the way primitive man arranged, in hewn stone, such powerful symbolism."The poet George Mackay Brown on midwinter at Maeshowe.

This day brings renewal and with it, an opportunity to renew ourselves.  The transition from dark to light is the perfect time to examine motivations and goals.  What changes can we make so that our lives will run more smoothly?  This is the ideal time for resolutions.