I stepped out into the cold morning air on this first day of January, and I leaned my ear towards the mountains and bent my face toward the sky. I could feel the presence of the Divine as surely as I felt the chill of winter air. And in the silence of this first day of a New Year, here is what came for me and for you:
You can only see your face by way of a mirror. Let me be your mirror today. Let me show you the beauty that I see, the beauty that I know to be deeper than your skin and more powerful than your thoughts. Let me show you the goodness I see in your eyes, the kindness in your smile, and the glow of grace that rests always on your brow. Put your face towards me, my child, that I may show you how true beauty appears.
You are enough. You do not need to achieve greatness, for you were gifted with greatness when you were born. Go back to that. Go back to innocence and trust and joy. Listen from within and let go of the voices that harp at you to be more. Those voices heap chains while the voice within frees the dancing spirit. You can love yourself into the fullness of life.
Happiness builds happiness. Gratefulness builds gratefulness. Kindness builds kindness. Generosity builds generosity. Love builds love. You are a master builder gifted with every needed tool to bless and to heal. You can create what you dream and what the world dreams. (And remember that the children are watching, absorbing, and emulating what and how you build.)
You are the giver of peace. You wear peace around your shoulders like a friend who drapes you in her embrace, and you offer that same embrace to the world around you. Like raindrops upon dry land, you welcome peace, you carry peace, and you continue the promises of peace. And I thank you for that, my dear, dear child.
I love you. I love you and those you love and those you struggle to love. I have wishes on this first day, too. I wish so much that we could all come together and lean our ears toward the mountains and our faces towards the sky. And I wish we could watch the sun rise over those mountains to bless a new day with light. That light reflects from me to you and then it reflects in you towards others and all of that beauty reflects back to me. It is glorious, this life, and I promise you, pinky swear, that the light that rises each day is rising in you to cast out shadows, to show the way, and to grow the gardens of blessing.
Heaven is here, in this place, in this time as surely as light folds over the mountains. Happy first day. Happy New Year. Amen.