Hard Candy Christmas

On a dark night,
Inflamed by love-longing -
O exquisite risk! -
Undetected I slipped away.
My house, at last, grown still.
Secure in the darkness,
I climbed the secret ladder in disguise -
O exquisite risk! -
Concealed by the darkness.
My house, at last, grown still.

That sweet night: a secret.
Nobody saw me;
I did not see a thing.
No other light, no other guide
Than the one burning in my heart.

This light led the way
More clearly than the risen sun
To where he was waiting for me

- The one I knew so intimately -
In a place where no one could find us.

O night, that guided me!
O night, sweeter than sunrise!
O night, that joined lover with Beloved!
Lover transformed in Beloved!
Upon my blossoming breast,
Which I cultivated just for him,
He drifted into sleep,
And while I caressed him,
A cedar breeze touched the air.

Wind blew down from the tower,
Parting the locks of his hair.
With his gentle hand
He wounded my neck
And all my senses were suspended.

I lost myself. Forgot myself.
I lay my face against the Beloved's face.
Everything fell away and I left myself behind,
Abandoning my cares
Among the lilies, forgotten.”
― Saint John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul 

 

Christmas is a season that North America tries to turn the beginning of winter season into something positive, to bring people together, to organize social events and seasonal events around togetherness, family, and generosity. 

But for many, it will be hard to be generous this year.  It will be hard to be together. It will hard. It will be dark, and it will be cold.

 In the Dark Night of the Soul, Saint John of the Cross explains in simple terms why being good is hard. It's a relatively small pamphlet, perhaps a 120 pages...you can read the whole thing here. It's all part of a larger body of work...and really deals with the righting of self, with the acceptance of certain internal truths, both psychological and spiritual.

Dark does not mean the end...it does not mean impossible. Indeed, for this author, it means understanding that at the very darkest time is when dawn breaks. And when dawn breaks, it will be a break towards love, not the terror of seeing.

This too, shall pass.  It is a season, not a finality. And though dark times are hard, the good times are sure to appear, and grace is possible, even in small ways.

Tis the season.

Halloween 2020

 

 

 

Put out some Halloween decorations this year...I guess in 2020 I'm turning into one of those people that decorate their lawns.

 

 

Julie made this terrifying scarecrow. We had a lot of fun putting it together.

 

 

Seriously the head of this thing gave me the heebie jeebies!

 

 

 

 

I also made some Halloween cookies. I learned 2 things: 1) I hate making sugar cookies, and don't particularly love the taste of them 2) Coconut oil is not a good substitute for shortening unless you want icing that tastes very strongly of coconut.

 

 

I forced our weekly movie group to watch a mildly scary vampire movie for Halloween.  Needless to say, it was not a hit. But I liked it, I thought it was a bit fun.

 

We also had 3 trick-or-treaters this year. I think Julie was hoping there was way more. I'm surprised we got that many with COVID restrictions. (Kids were able to gather the candy from a sanitized bowl at a distance.)  

Overall, Halloween was fun this year, I saw some cool costumes, but I did miss dressing up myself.  Unfortunately, no reason to dress up this year.  But I suppose I saved some money on costumes, so there is that, I guess! :)