YEAR END REFLECTION
The season of grace and giving
In recent years I’ve sat down to reflect on the year ahead and the year gone by with hands poised on a computer keyboard.
Of course it wasn’t always thus, having grown up in an era long before computers.
And yet this year I feel inclined more than ever to once again take up pen and paper to re-experience the sensual act of thinking and writing in a way and at a tempo that seems more harmonized with my physical being – to slow things down and take in the moment.
My reflections at this time of the year keep pulling me to the real and tangible, like singing carols this week at the Falstaff Family Centre, baking cookies, reading a reflective poem, or going for a slow walk in nature.
I am reminded how rewarding it can be if one can just access the patience which seems to have slipped from our human experience in recent years. Perhaps it’s because technology has driven us faster and faster while disconnecting us from each other, no matter what it promises to the contrary.
A wonderful, warm and full yellow moon sat in the low northwest sky a few early mornings ago. It reminded me time is long and that we come and go through the ages. Yet simple beauties remain all around us, often in nature or with those we love.
We are called upon to remember that the message of the season is one of humility not hubris, of harmony and not hate, kindness not cruelty and respect for the dignity of all.
In these uncertain times, perhaps more than ever, we must give of ourselves whenever and wherever possible. This is the greatest gift of all. There is no act too small. Even a smile can be so appreciated. But of course for those with more means there is the opportunity to do so much more and our living world depends on it.
To those of you who were able to travel to our performances this past year and to those who were not able, we hold all of you in our hearts with gratitude and love.
May I and my colleagues Mark, Errol, Andrea, Stacey, and Ian wish you the very best for the year ahead and beyond.
~LM