Friends,
“Is it already Dec 31??,” a friend asked surprised. “I am not ready yet!” And still, ready or not, we arrive today on the 7th Day of our journey which is also the last day of the year. I always arrive somewhat melancholic - what about you?
There is a beautiful image for times like this: a threshold. We are standing in-between, the old has not yet fully vanished and the new has not yet fully come. Birth is such a threshold. Christmas is. Easter for sure. And as tradition has it, we walk the threshold towards the new year while also pondering the Divine birth.
And so today, at this last day of the year we invite you for a pause. We hope and pray you can carve out some quiet time for yourself at this threshold weekend, to retreat into yourself, be it at a quiet place, a nature walk, or a cosy spot in front of a window.
We have used different ways to pause when we approach the threshold. My favorite one is to take in the last sunset of the year as we have written it into our program on our turn of the year retreat several years ago.
A time of (re)collection
On our 12 Days of Christmas journey we invite you to take some time to look back on this journey. Read the meditations you have not had time yet or revisit one which needs deepening. Whatever you do, I hope that each meditation will lead you to the next step, and will nurture your soul this day. And if you decide to just take some time to breathe I hope it will replenish you as well.
If you have been with us on this journey every day you might wish for a practice of recollection, a way to redeem the year, to look back where you came from and forward in hopeful anticipation.
Here you can find such a practice from previous journeys to guide you along. As good traditions do, they invite you onto a new path every year again :-)
Thus if you wish for a blessing for the night, you might also know our tradition to walk into New Year’s night with the Bonhoeffer hymn “By gracious powers wonderfully sheltered.” It always moves my heart and it always consoles me. I have written on this tradition first seven years ago on our very first 12 Days of Christmas journey. It has since become the most visited post on our website and something we come back to every year again. So we invite you for the night to join our virtual group of pilgrims by listening to the Bonhoeffer hymn, to hum or pray along as you wish.
A Blessing at the Threshold
And for all in need of a blessing right now and here, Chuck has choosen a Rumi poem for this day at the threshold:
LISTEN OH DROP!
by Rumi
Listen oh drop, give yourself up without regret,
And in exchange gain the Ocean.
Listen, oh drop, bestow upon yourself this honor,
And in the arms of the Sea be secure
Who indeed should be so fortunate?
An Ocean wooing a drop!
In God’s name, in God’s name, sell and buy at once!
Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls.
And may this New Year welcome you gently, Almut with Chuck and little one
This post is part of our 12 Days of Christmas Series 2022/23: “Taking Courage”, a Contemplative Journey towards the heart of Christmas. To enter our virtual dwelling place click here. To share your thoughts with us, write us here. We love to hear from you! For personal guidance visit our PathFinder.
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