by John Gray

It’s the December holiday season in many societies. The eight-day annual Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, begins at sundown today. This year, Christmas comes right after Hanukkah. And then Kwanzaa, an annual cultural celebration of African-American heritage. Kwanzaa concludes as calendar year 2026 begins. However—and far more significant than these man-made celebrations—it is again almost solstice time for planet Earth. As we know, solstices mark the points when the sun appears at its highest or lowest position in the sky and then “stands still” before reversing its path into the coming season. This is how things are interpreted by human beings looking out from the surface of the planet anyway. May it also remind some of the Earth’s relationship with the focus of our solar system, both physically and spiritually. For us, now, this is a perfect time, as it always is, to stand still and silent before the Lord of all.