Holidays –holy days or “whole-y” days–are days set aside to recognize our Whole Selves. They provide time and space in which to remember that we are beings of Spirit as well as physical beings with our physical needs. They are days for honoring our spirits and sustaining our Inner Selves with our dearest nourishment: connectedness and love.

What better symbol to remember our love and to facilitate the opening of our hearts than that of a newborn child, with its pure love and that love’s powerful potential to displace human fears and attitudes of competition in our world. Whether it’s the Christian Baby Jesus or any newborn child, its promise is the hope that love will reign.

I wish to take this opportunity in this season of love and new beginnings to say to you, one and all, that I love you—all of you–my friends and my family (known and unknown, for we are all one) and including those who have taken actions that have hurt me. Everyone that has been a part of my life has influenced a part of me, and has brought me to this blessed moment of complete freedom to love and to BE love.

My Christmas wish is that this season and new year be one of greater freedom for you and all humankind. I am excited and hopeful for us as we experience the current protests–through non-violent participation (yeah!) or just through concerned and connected observation. I pray that our voices raised in distress over an absence of reverent love for each other may awaken in us a shift into a deeper consciousness of honoring our oneness.

Naming the thing we desire to change is necessary in order to bring our aware consciousness to a focus on its opposite; so yes, let us raise our voices in protest—and then, let us move into a wholehearted and whole-self honoring of the Higher Truth of our Connectedness! We each can embody connectedness and love through whatever honest expression our personal hearts dictate, each contributing our unique selves to Life’s wholeness. This is, after all, the gift each of us has to give.

May you find LOVE & CONNECTEDNESS this holiday season. May you experience the joy of BEING it! Happy New Year, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and Merry Christmas to all!

Nancy