Ok, I'm taking a poll. How many people have their Christmas tree up?
Alright, good, now how many put it up a month ago??
Seriously, all you over achievers really had me going! HA!
As I saw everyone beginning to put up their trees this year out of pure desperation for some joy after all of the loss that we have suffered over the course of 2020, I wanted to jump on that sleigh ride BIG TIME and join you all!!!! I reeeealllyy did! BUT, I only had my Thanksgiving stuff out for like a week so I made myself hold to my guns and look at my pumpkins a little longer, until today. Today, I dragged those boxes in faster than you can say GO! (Well, I didn't, Louie did. AND it was prompted by my kids begging me to get started since 7am, but, whatever.)
So what is it about the lights of a Christmas tree that fill us with peace, and calm, and hope anyway? Sure, I know, we could go into a long spiritual and historical conversation about all the whys (and if you are one of those people who want to chat about that, we should have tea sometime! I'm totally in!) But today I was reflecting on this little notion. Little thoughts started to come to me about the external lights of the Christmas tree in particular (by external I mean external to our physical being), and how much those little man made lights can gift us versus how much of a gift our own individual INTERNAL/ETERNAL light has to offer.
As I sat in my living room, staring at my tree after spending the greater part of the day setting everything up, fluffing and arraigning, I started to think, "Yes, now I'm starting to feel better." And then I caught myself. Because the truth of the matter is that the lights of the Christmas tree are beautiful, yes. They are peaceful. They bring warmth. But, I know, in my heart of hearts, they do not hold a candle to the peace and light and warmth that can be found within my very own heart. And the same goes for you too. (This also leads to a long conversation about external validation but we are going to have to save that one for another day too.)
I spent some time sitting here in front of my tree feeling it out, just to see if it was legit, this feeling that I was experiencing, before I shared it all with you. I could feel all of those feelings just by looking at my tree (peace, hope, love). They were there, but as soon as I turned away from the tree to do some other menial task, boom, peace, hope, love.... gone.
And then I tried something different. I took that Christmas tree, and those lights and I planted that little beauty right inside my heart. I closed my eyes, and I tucked it in there, lights, Grinch ornaments and all, and guess what?? Without even opening my eyes, the warmth and peace and the glow were all there, right inside of me, except they were SO MUCH STRONGER!!!!
No joke.
Try it!
And then I thought, "Well dang! We are all struggling right now. We are feeling lost, alone and hopeless and we have been feeling this way for soooooo long. So much so that we are flinging lights on trees as fast as we can just to try and brighten things up a bit! But what if, WHAT IF, instead, we learned to carry that feeling that the tree lights give us on the outside of our bodies, inside our hearts??? So that everyday, every season, wherever we are, when we are feeling down and out, all we have to do, is plug in our heart tree. And BOOM, we are LIT from the inside out. "
Ok, well, that's it :) What do you think? Want to give it a try? If you aren't sure where to start, I've got you!!!! I recorded a short meditation on our YouTube channel called Tree Lights Within. And if my technology is on point tonight, you should be able to access it right here https://youtu.be/6X_cX-ba-_w
And as always, if you know someone who needs help finding their light right now, pass this along and share it. There is enough light for all, and the world NEEDS US to find our inner light more now than ever before. It is our responsibility. Join me.
May you flourish my loves.
Comments