When I got up this morning, the first thing I did (which was totally unusual) was check my phone to see what the temperature was. I was pretty sure our furnace had not stopped running full speed for a long, long time, and my phone confirmed it — Baby It’s Cold Outside! It was -28 degrees Celsius (or -14 Fahrenheit for our U.S. friends). All things said, it’s really, really cold! Most of you know I’m not a fan of the cold at all, or winter for that matter. The dump of snow we had over Christmas Day on top of what was already there is not so great in my books; but as we all know, “it is what it is”. For sure up here in Canada, it definitely creates much gratitude for when spring shows up!
This is the time I like to call “the week between”. For me, there’s a palpable change in the energy from the busyness of the days prior to Christmas. Even if you’ve simplified and calmed your personal holiday ‘to do’ lists, there’s a heightened collective energy of all that apparently needs to be done leading up to Christmas Day. I love that the days which follow (at least up until New Year’s Eve when things seem to ramp up again) have that quiet, “there’s a kind of hush, all over the world” feel.
This is a great time to do some relaxing, reflecting, remembering and perhaps some ruminating on setting our thoughts toward what we’d like for ourselves, our community and world in the upcoming year of 2022. I’m pretty sure it goes without saying that both 2020 and 2021 were perhaps not the very best years any of us have had. We’ve all gone through uncertainty and changes that have affected the way most of us have done things. This has been so very true for our Centre as well. Even though we’re apparently not through these undefined waters quite yet, I’m delighted our Centre is still here, adapting and continuing to be committed to you in the best ways possible and steadfast in its job of reminding us that no matter what, there’s an Intelligence and Love guiding, guarding, maintaining and sustaining us.
Although we realize with our human minds that nothing is the same as before, I and our Leadership are committed to reinventing and rebuilding our congregation (both local and online), to strengthening our community ties (both internal and external) and to release our Peace Centre with love to its next expression. We’re also up to the task of finding our next ‘right’ place. These are big jobs no doubt, and we’re up to it. We must be, as it’s before us.
As we move into this time, I wholeheartedly want to thank you for your love and support. I also want to ask you if you can, to consider a year-end gift which will support us and will also earn you a charitable tax receipt from Revenue Canada.
Here are just a few community reminders…
We’ll be having our annual New Year’s release and intention-setting service on January 2nd. I’d love for you to join me on Facebook Live at 10:30am. I’ll set the stage for the morning and Rev. Christy Snow will lead us through a beautiful musical meditation time together.
Due to the changed Covid-19 restrictions here in BC, we’ve decided to forego our plans for our in-person service on January 9th, but we will be having the first of our ‘Community Sundays’ on Facebook Live. We’ll also be having our Visioning Session #3 (the last of our three visioning sessions) that day at 1pm on Zoom.
Finally, for a truly wonderful way to help navigate these waters, I encourage everyone to attend the upcoming Foundations of the Science of Mind class being offered by Amanda Pope and Derek Hinchliffe. This 10-week series starts on Tuesday, January 4th from 6pm to 8pm on Zoom. Along with some special guest teachers, Amanda and Derek will be offering the opportunity to learn (or be reminded of) the solid practical tools that this teaching provides to support you through “this thing called life”. Whether you’ve taken all the Science of Mind classes, or have never taken a class before, this class is especially designed to be of value for everyone. It’s being offered at a large discount so that it’s easily available. I know I’ll be there and am looking forward to it.
And so we say a thoughtful goodbye to 2021. I’m not sure my personal theme for being more “lighthearted” was truly met, but I was grateful to have it as a reminder, much like having a candle to hold out to light the way. I haven’t yet come up with my guide word for 2022, but I’d love to encourage you to be thinking of yours as I ponder mine.
“See you next year!”
Blessings,
Dr. Deborah
There was no service on December 26th, but of you missed our Celebration of Light… Lite, you can watch it (and other past services) on the CSLK YouTube channel.
MIND-FULL MOMENT
“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier’. ”
— Alfred Lord Tennyson
Copyright © 2021 Centre for Spiritual Living Kelowna. All rights reserved.
Comments