lend thy light.

there's something about winter solstice, i think, that fosters a spirit of magic and hope and awe. i quite like thinking about the imagery & symbolism of it all.

it is the longest night -- the darkest night -- but no matter the darkness, the light is coming back. there is a lesson in that.

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earlier this week, i sat in the dark in a cathedral in harlem. a single candle was lit, then passed to light another. and another. and another.

in a moment, the nave was aglow. a thousand flickering flames illuminated the rafters, carried a thousand voices singing silent night straight to heaven.

a single light can pierce the darkness, can be shared. there is a lesson in that, too.

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advent means the coming. the coming of light, the coming of christ, the coming of a new year -- whatever one believes, there is an anticipatory stillness that settles over the month of december. a reverence. a holiness.

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calm and bright, indeed.