The final days of 2017 are ticking away, which means a myriad of challenges are simultaneously underway. It's the last chance for the year's goals not yet realized, the holiday rush is upon us and just as the days are shortest, there is an expectation that we will find a moment to stop and smell the holly. This month, Katie reminds us about a time  long ago for each of us when life wasn't so complicated.

          May your Holidays be filled with the joy of simpler times. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a safe and happy New Year. Here's to chasing - and finding - miracles with all of you. 

Joan, Katie and Meb       

          Most of us wonder if there is an after, an after-life or heaven, a spiritual existence that goes on. I'm guessing few of us today wonder much about before, a before-life if you will (reincarnation excepted), as Wordsworth did back in the 19th century. The idea that our unique essence, or soul, existed long before our physical birth is not new. As Pierre Teilhard de Chardin suggests, we are "spiritual beings having a human experience" and not the other way around.

          When my younger daughter was 3, we were driving down highway 80 near Berkeley CA when I commented to her about an unusual and beautiful cloud formation we could see out of the car window.
          "That's where Papa Dickie is," she said.
          "What do you mean?" I responded.
          "He's in the clouds and I talk to  him there. I talk to him all the time."

          Her comment sent shivers down my arms. My father had been gone well before her birth and his death was not something I discussed with my toddler, though she certainly had seen a photo and knew his name. I took her at her word that she had some unearthly knowledge of him.

          I had forgotten that story until recently when I was holding one of my two new grandsons (born 12 days apart in October) as he strained to see the light coming in a nearby window. Maybe his limited vision drew him to the brightest object or, maybe, he saw something we can no longer see. I took in the wisps of clouds as they floated by, but he was mesmerized and fixated on a particular spot. As William Wordsworth's poem continues, "Heaven lies about us in our infancy!" And then the wonder fades; babies become children who then become adults that get bogged down in the human experience and forget about what may have come before.

          Which brings me to Christmas, my favorite time of year. Jesus, also known as "the light of the world" never did seem to forget about what came before. But he did show up to remind us to keep our eyes fixated on what this light represents: to find a way to love our neighbor, to practice peace on earth in whatever way is available to us and to send out thoughts of goodwill toward all into the universe. May the light of Christmas shine bright this holiday for you and yours and into the New Year. (Katie) 
 

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