Photo Credit: Dave Dostie
Christmas Eve
Cape Elizabeth, Maine –
Before a Christmas storm wipes out power to the Northeast in a solid last minute effort to top-off our disdain for 2020… I want to take a moment to say thank you to all of you. Thank you for your encouragement, your friendship, for reading my books, and for your support.
It’s been such a difficult year around the world, so many lives lost, and so many have suffered with COVID. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a Christmas Eve sermon I heard years ago. I sat on the wooden pew with my shoulders weighted down with worry. It had been a long and difficult period for me personally. I wondered if things would ever improve. And no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out how to fix all that was broken.
So there I sat, surrounded by poinsettias, candles, and pretty dresses. The pastor stood before the congregation, took a deep breath, and started his talk with a disclaimer. “If your life is perfect, then good for you. You don’t need to hear what I have to say. But for the rest of you, experiencing darkness right now… I want to ask you something. Haven’t you ever heard of morning?”
Morning. Light. The sunrise. I was thunderstruck at the thought of it. Tears poured down my cheeks because I could feel the truth in it… morning was coming. It was on the way. All I had to do was hold on and keep showing up. That, my friends, is the hope of this season. The light will come.
This holiday whether you celebrated each night of Hanukah by illuminating darkness with candles, whether you marked the winter’s longest night with a glowing fire in the fireplace, whether you celebrate the holidays by doing good works as a shining light for others, whether your family will celebrate the light of Christmas Morning. . . no matter how you usher in the light, I hope a glimmer of hope finds its way to your home and burns brightly.
Here’s to the morning! It’s on the way.
xoxo,
Anna
