Celebrate Light’s Return to the World

(Photo – Sonny Premo)

The rain that fell this week feels like a Solstice gift. On Sunday morning, the gardens were rich with color, the trees visibly pleased and relieved by the cleansing. It was like our own nature-given purification ritual right at the holiday-time.

By Tera Landers

One of the best showcases for a single, sweet raindrop? The silvery threads of a spiderweb.

The raindrop perched carefully in the web, light reflecting through it. We could easily mistake that spiderweb for something incredibly flimsy. But those threads are stronger, more intentional, than we might think.

In her poem “Spiderweb,” Kay Ryan notes: “It isn’t ever delicate to live” as she explores the perspective of a spiderweb from the spider’s point of view. Not that we need to be reminded of that.

Even as we enjoy holiday celebrations and rituals, we do so holding our own sorrows, griefs, heartaches. For many, this time of ever darkening days amplifies sadness, depression, anxiety.

And so, we need this ritual of light returning into our lives. It reminds us that in the center of our beings, there is joy and sorrow, strength and fragility, the named and the nameless, both darkness and light.

We look for ways to ground us, so that we can find balance in the center of our beings. That balance feels so elusive, our days our filled with so much. Filled with too much!

Participating in meaningful community grounds us. Reminds us of who we really are.

We’re not so unlike the spider, who starts off her web by creating a core structure that holds up the rest.

Her web begins with a single thread, cast into the air with the hope the wind will catch it – just right – and it will attach to something solid on the other end. That one hopeful thread forms the basis for the rest of the web. It’s like her through-line.

We, too, each have our own through-line. That which fills us with meaning and purpose, that gives our life direction and around which we shape our friends, families, values.

This week, we celebrate light returning to the world. May we open ourselves to that light, so that it can illumine what we hold most dear, and give us strength to continue building the web of our beloved community.