...a season of miracles

The holiday season is in full swing and most of us are getting wrapped up in the frenzy of it all. Me, I decided that this year I would not be frenzied, but rather present and appreciative of every moment. I also decided that I would take time to stop and enjoy all the goofy, sappy wonderful things that bring me joy this time of year.

So my car has been a non-stop music fest of every Christmas CD I own. And last night, I did something I haven’t done in years – I rode around for a little while with my friend Dora Jean and looked at all the Christmas lights on people’s houses.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Chanukah, this is considered a season of miracles. But if you ask me, we don’t have a shortage of miracles no matter what the season.

There’s a quote attributed to Albert Einstein that I love -

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

I am, not surprisingly, the latter. I believe every day is a gift and each breath, a miracle. And the older I get, the more that becomes true for me.

As I was looking through my address book writing Christmas cards, I saw an inordinate number of names of people in it who are no longer alive. It wasn’t one or two. I suppose that this is a natural occurrence with the passage of time, but still, it was shocking to me and got me thinking about what is truly enduring and miraculous.

We live largely in a world of distractions. We make assumptions about tone and text and email. We create fiction in the silences between each other’s replies, and don’t hesitate to offer righteous indignation over the slightest of offenses.

None of this brings us peace or joy or an expansion of love in our lives. But these are the things of the times in which we live. So to alter that lifestyle, it would take a conscious decision on our part.

This season, I am making a concerted effort to really talk to the people in my life, to lose the superficial, which I’ve never been any good at, anyway, and to look people in the eye, to listen with my heart, to love beyond the petty hurts and grievances, and to savor the moments of beauty and candor and connection.

We are given a short time here. And I guarantee that no one will remember the outfit we wore (with the possible exception of Lady Gaga’s meat dress), but we all remember how we felt in any given moment. Moments and feelings are the indelible things we take with us on our journey through life.

On the good moments and feelings, we reflect longingly, and on the bad ones, we either take the lessons offered and let it go or carry it with us, retelling it and reliving it until we learn that it doesn’t serve us anymore.

A miracle is defined as an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific laws. So I think that makes love a miracle. And those who choose to practice it, miracle workers.

We have the chance every single day to be someone’s miracle. We have the opportunity to be kind for no reason, to love without justification, to help in the slightest way when the world would say that’s crazy, or worse – stupid.

Love is a miracle in these times. There’s no logic to it or for it, and it doesn’t seem to be the natural or scientific order of things. And yet, we are called to it, drawn to it, long for it, live and breathe for it. We are here to do and be one thing – the inexplicable, the miraculous – love.

So in this season of miracles, let’s know that we are the living embodiment of the greatest miracle of all - love. Let’s walk like it and talk like it and live like we know that.

Thanks for stopping by.

Peace, Blessings, & Love to you all,

Ilene