Aligning with Grace

We are on the doorsteps of a New Year - on the threshold looking in... We are heading towards the darkness of night, and the dawn of a new day and year... This morning I read these simple words, written as a prayer: "Dear God, on the eve of this New Year teach me that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is the present and that it why it is called a gift." And then, right before my morning meditation, these words by Paramahansa Yogananda : "Let us forget the sorrows of the past and make up our minds not to dwell on them in the New Year. With determination and unflinching will, let us renew our lives, our good habits, and our successes. If the last year has been hopelessly bad, the New Year must be hopefully good." And, to all who read these words - to your and your beloved ones: May your New Year be full of love, grace and peace, love and harmony, and filled with countless blessings!

On this Christmas morning, I sit in meditation, and the insight comes to me, that this Sacred Day, is really all about the Incarnation of Love. God, who is the Source of All Love, Incarnates as a child and in our hearts to show us that Love is all there is... I emerge from a long and quiet meditation, as a few delicate flurries dance joyously outside my window, fully cognizant of the reality that Love is all that matters. Only Love endures. Even in the scriptures, St. Paul asserts, "that of these three, Faith, Hope, and Love, the greatest of these is Love..." I wrote a beloved friend yesterday, and told her, that my new murti of Hanuman , who exemplifies loyalty, devotion, and love, had arrived just before Christmas to show me the Way to Love. He has come into my sacred space to break my heart open - that it may most fully give and receive Love... As I prepared remarks for a dear friend's memorial service, I thought of how all who would gather there, would do so in Love...

On this Sacred Eve of Christmas , I make two offerings - one written by Fra Giovanni in 1513 AD, and the second, humbly penned by me. May God's Love and Presence continue to Incarnate in your hearts, and may you always scatter the fruits of your love, your life, and actions, illuminating darkened corners everywhere! Written on Christmas Eve 1513 I salute you. I am your friend, and my love for you goes deep. There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that, while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in it today. Take heaven! No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instant. Take peace! The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. There is a radiance and glory in darkness, could we but see. And to see, we have only to look. I beseech you to look! Life is so generous a giver. But we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away ...

On the eve - of Christmas Eve , I arise at dawn and greet the morning down by the river which is now totally frozen over, for the first time in years. I sit in the biting cold and howling wind and offer prayers, my heart racked by conflicting and deep emotions as I prepare for the birth of God's son, in the shadow of a beloved friend's death... Inspirations and ideas come for a memorial service I will soon lead, for this wonderful yogini, who touched so many lives in my local yoga community... I make my way home to the stillness and quiet, to sit and meditate some more, mindful that this Season of Advent is almost over, and in a matter of hours, it will gracefully yield into the Season of Christmas ... Spontaneously, I feel compelled to go get coffee from McDonald's . For a long time this was an almost daily ritual for me, on my way to the river, at a time that was difficult in my life, but it is something I have not done now for a while... I arrive and am greeted by the b...

It is truly a time for signs and wonders in all that is seen and that which is unseen as well... Yesterday, many observed the Winter Solstice , which was ushered in by a rare lunar eclipse, a full moon, and an unusual conjunction of planets - not seen for centuries. These were incredible signs and wonders which came bearing messages and were filled with meaning... In the midst of it all, I struggled to make sense of the tragic death of dear friend - but even this brought its own insights and signs from the "Other Side," and gathered a community together, from far and wide... And in the late afternoon, as the day exhaled its last ray of light into the darkness, my new Hanuman murti, representing Siva and Shakti in its devotional aspects, auspiciously arrived, just at twilight, in time for my evening meditation. A murti is a sacred statue, and when I opened the box, I immediately felt a blast of Hanuman's sweet energy, so powerful and soft, and like a loving embrace, i...

These are truly extraordinary times. In the last year, we have seen many rare and unusual planetary, astrological, and astronomical alignments and occurrences, especially for those with the eyes to see, the ears to hear, and the heart willing to ponder the signs and wonders we are given. There were many unusual such occurrences around the time of the birth of Jesus as well, although, this too, might be debated by some skeptics. Still, I find myself in awe of what will transpire in a few short hours. We are on the doorsteps of the darkest and longest night of the year - the Winter Solstice , coupled with the Full Moon , and a Lunar Eclipse , which has not occurred simultaneously since 1554 AD! The energy feels intense to me, bordering on the magical, and some truly strange things, defying any immediate explanation happened to me, one of which was, a "mini crop circle" appearing on my laundered microfiber sheets, looking like a full moon. It very much reminded me of the the ple...

Late last might, I read Sally Kempton's newsletter, a wonderful spiritual teacher whose works often focus on the power of meditation, and she offered beautiful insights into the Season of Love , which is indeed, every season, in every year... I have excerpted the following, which spoke to me: "A friend of mine wrote, 'I was at the DMV today. I was looking around and falling in love with faces, feeling the brokenness and listening to the seeds of hope in every conversation around me.' Reading her words reminded me how this season - the year's midnight, with its celebrations of light and grace - can often invite us into this kind of poignant, almost heart-breaking love. Of course, love is always present, ready to pour through us. And we always have the choice to see each other with the eye of love. Yes, it's always felt to me that the love force of the cosmos is present in a particularly universal way at this time of year, at least in the parts of the world that...