Reason for the Season

It's Christmas Eve in Southeastern Michigan and the snow is gently falling outside, bringing excitement and joy to children all over the Detroit Metropolitan area. The hopes for a white Christmas will be granted this year. Morning will bring smiles to faces young and old as they peer out the window to see such a beautiful sight. A white Christmas is actually a rare thing around here so it is truly something to celebrate.

If you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, or the Start of a New Year, there is something magical about snow drifting slowly to the ground, collecting on the lawn.

But this causes me to think of what we are really celebrating. The real reason for the season. The reason that we gather with friends and family at this time each year. No matter if you are celebrating the birth of the Christ child, the rededication of the Holy Temple, the seven core principles, the start of longer days in the Northern Hemisphere, the Beginning of a New Age, or the start of a New Year, in my opinion, we are really celebrating ourselves. We have been a long time in the making and no other has ever been quite like ourselves. We gather with our loved ones to celebrate us. We gather with our loved ones to celebrate them. As we venture into the unknown, we are pioneers into illusions. We are heroic and courageous. We give beyond reason and care beyond hope. We love without limits and reach, stretch and dream in spite of our fears.

Without knowing, your light has illuminated paths, your gaze has lifted broken spirits, and already your life has changed the course of history.

This is the time of year to celebrate YOU.

This is the start of something bigger than anything the past has ever seen. Welcome to the Brighter Side, my friends. It is you, that lights the way.