Thanks, Jesus

Thanks for the nice Solstice, Jesus. I am going to have birthday cake tonight in your honor and wish your peace on everyone. Still riding the energy of time with you. Might as well extend the celebration. Seems fitting. Last night was much needed, my friend. Your company does good things inside of me. Just like when I was a kid. Sweet and innocent things. Solstice is sweet and innocent to me. Kinda like Christmas use to be. Like Christmas is supposed to be. Like you are. You have a spark, dude.

I like that spark. The warmth that embraced the kid in me and hugs the adult. Jesus and me. Quite the pair. I dig it. Your birthday is special. Use to be the best day of the year. Wish I could say it was because of you but it was the other stuff. Even when I was a kid, you kinda got lost in the shuffle. The other stuff was so damn good. The flood of gifts. A sense of abundance. All is right with the world moments that made sleep more difficult. Excitement of the coming that overwhelmed everything. Even you. We meant well. We just fa-la-la’ed to the point of oo-la-la.

Had to wrap things. Spruce them up. Decorate them with lights and tinsel. It was time to be shiny and new. The season of sparkle. Somewhere along the way, the lights overshadowed you, Jesus. You were a footnote we remembered when we had time. There was you and a whole mess of other stuff that was more exciting. More urgent. Santa trumped you in stores, TV shows, decorations, press releases, and sheer volume. I tasted it as a kid and got kinda addicted. Alright, I got way addicted. The season shifted back when I was little. It was about waking up to tons of stuff.

There was also reverence. A special reverence that even the kid in me knew was really what you wanted me to feel. The reverence of Silent Night, Holy Night. The quiet sacredness of a single white Christmas light over the Nativity set that was Mom and Dad’s back then and is mine forever. It was as simple as simple gets. A few pieces of wood put together with some finishing nails that had to be reminded of their job each year. That was “the” manger for me. I felt you more there than in any church at any time. It makes me smile. I know you chuckled when that little me brought weeds from the Dodd’s yard and called it hay to make the ceramic you more comfortable. Even the youthful me knew my solo versions of Silent Night confirmed my emotions were richer and sweeter than my singing voice. That is still the case. So I sing in words and call it my song. I sing more publicly to you now.

Back then, I got caught up in the receiving. Still do at times. Hey, I like receiving. I just understand how much I already have much better now. It was and is in the giving that I feel you. When the gifts are from my soul. That is your message, my friend. Give. Give your best. Share your gifts and have more in the sharing.

Yesterday, there were hints of that. Much needed hints. I was present for those that reached and shared. My time was put to use…..for others. They knew they were heard. I sensed they were comforted and that gift was felt. It was Solstice. The appreciation for the abundance that is life. Simple peace and everyday magic.

Solstice is that peace and magic for me. It feels like crystal clear white lights on a stunning tree under a moonlit sky on a mantle on white. It is out there anytime I reach for it. Hey, that’s kinda like you, ain’t it? Last night had that image AND you. The feel of winter and the irony that winter begins the return to light. Solstice is pure…….like you and your message. Solstice is a Temple of my own making. A bright and shiny Temple.

The moneychangers have been banished from this Temple. Pushed three days hence. Three days. How fitting. Now it is time for you and what your birth means. You are the message of Solstice for me, Jesus.

Shiny and new. Special. Loved by that Force that creates this beauty that is life. Loved into life, throughout life, and well beyond whatever we understand as life even at the best of our most joyous imagination. To know we do fly on wings that carry us across time and space. We are the magic of love. We are blessed children. We are Peace on Earth. There is magic afoot this night. Feel it from a manger. See it in a child’s eyes. Dance on the wind of its sweet change. This is Solstice. This is you.

This is the way you kissed me as a child, Jesus. Nice that you walk with me now. Thanks for celebrating Solstice with me. Tonight let’s light the candles and call it your birthday. Yeah, I know what the calendar says. I will celebrate your birth anytime I choose and I choose tonight. Will celebrate again on that day when the gifts are opened. You are bigger than one day. We all are.

Happy Birthday. Thanks for the swell gift, man.