As I awaken to my connection with the cycles of Light and Dark within day, a month, a year, this still time before the Winter Solstice has become one of my most treasured times of the year. Years ago, out of the stillness and darkness of this time grew a hunger in me for a particular form of inner work that prepared me for something. At first this something seemed like the New Year. I was preparing for the external New Year by remembering, reviewing, and envisioning. Over the years this preparing started to feel more spiritual. I began to see this work as preparation for the Light after the Darkest Night of the year. And suddenly I could explain the Christmas Story with so much clarity and ease to both myself and my children. We are preparing for the Light to return after a very dark time. This darkness is a necessary experience of being Human on this earth. Instead of rejecting the darkness, our openness to the darkness sparks the light within. Our participation in the preparation for that Light is our act of Hope and Faith. I am not totally sure, but it seems that all of the Light festivals celebrated over the world and throughout religions have this kernel of truth. It is the universal principle of Yin and Yang.
And then an inner meaning of Advent seemed to awaken in me; that within the deepest chambers of my own heart, a space was being prepared for the birth of the Light, the arrival of the very most sacred and connected part of us. Not the one who we want to be in some distant future, not the one we think our parents or partner or friends want us to be, but the one we ARE. The Holy comes toward us at this time and can rest in our prepared Hearts to nourish, renew and rejuvenate us for the coming year. 
This year my advent work feels so important to me in the midst of our world events that seem so dark. Connecting with and carrying our Light is a socio-political act that confronts the fear and loneliness and disconnection that leads to violence. I invite you to prepare the inner chamber of your heart for the Light that WANTS TO and IS coming towards you. Will you be there to answer the door? What preparations can you make for the joyous event?
Here are two of my favorite places to visit for Advent inspiration:
Lynn Jericho hosts an Inner Advent workshop every year in preparation for the 12 Holy Nights. Also be sure to check out her free Inner Christmas messages for those 12 nights.
Jan Richardson is a Minister, Artist and Poet and writes several wonderful blogs. The Advent Door is a new resource to me and is so amazing. I am looking forward to reading her new book, Circle of Grace.
Here is an example of her writing found at the Advent Door. I am not a practicing Christian and certainly do not see the Bible as ‘Bible’, but her writing invites me into contemplating Christianity as a resource for understanding my world. Listen to her words about how God finds us in the Darkness, not necessarily in the Light. I think we can substitute any word we want for God, any understanding we have of the Life Force, of the Divine, of the Essence of Life…
“Darkness is where incarnation begins. The gorgeous texts of Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany shimmer with the light that God brings into our midst, as in the prologue to John’s Gospel: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it (John 1:5). Yet if we lean too quickly toward the light, we miss seeing one of the greatest gifts this season has to offer us: that the deepest darkness is the place where God comes to us. In the womb, in the night, in the dreaming; when we are lost, when our world has come undone, when we cannot see the next step on the path; in all the darkness that attends our life, whether hopeful darkness or horrendous, God meets us. God’s first priority is not to do away with the dark but to be present to us in it. I will give you the treasures of darkness, God says in Isaiah 45:3, and riches hidden in secret places. For the Christ who was born two millennia ago, for the Christ who seeks to be born in us this day, the darkness is where incarnation begins.”
And finally, a secular poem to carry with you through these darkest days of your year. Blessings!
photo attributed to gardenmama.typepad.com
Deep Mid-winter drawing near,
Darkness in our Garden here –
My own flame yet bravely burns
To show a path which ever turns.
Earth, please bear us as we go,
Seeking Light to send a-glow,
Branches green and moss and fern,
Mark our path to trace each turn.
Brother animals, teach us too
To serve with patience as you do.
We walk together toward the Light
While Earth awaits with hope so bright;
In the Light which finds new birth
Love may spread o’er all the Earth.
Deep Mid-winter drawing near –
May Light arise in our Garden here.
Poem by Nancy Foster
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