Ever-green Awe
“We can’t pick a Christmas tree until it sings to me,” I said. Incredulous looks. Raised eyebrows. Pained expressions.
My dear late husband, Jim, and my precious current husband, Bill, share a few common denominators, and one of them was disbelief that I listened to trees to discover which one wanted to grace our home for the holidays.
In different life chapters, Jim and Bill stood silent, amused, and frozen as I listened to rows of Douglas firs, Blue Spruces, Frazier Firs and Balsam Firs in cold tree lots outside of big box stores, on pick-your-own tree farms, and on the ridges of snowy West Virginia mountains.
As I gazed at trees, when I heard the inrush of awe on the breath of life moving into my chest, I knew which conifer was the right one. That was the music – a twinkle in the heart that heralded a connection to marvel and mystery via a tree!
Bill and I have an artificial tree now, a nod to our ages, but even that one sang an evergreen aria when I picked it out of a catalog. I’ve decided I love the pretend tree because I can keep it up for more than a month if I want. I buy scented icicles and sprays to remember the fresh, deep green fragrance of earthy pine.
This is one of the gifts inherent to this season of awaiting Light: an invitation to be open to fresh thinking about, fresh noticing of, fresh connection with the interplay between darkness and light and the ever-green music and magic of life.
© Linda Sandel Pettit, Ed.D., 2022
Photo by Zoe, courtesy of Unsplash.com
#lindasandelpettit #advent #adventreflections #hope #love #beauty #grief #forgiveness #Christmaswisdom #spirituality
Linda Sandel Pettit, Ed.D. inspires intuitive-creative women healers to use their healing modalities, speaking voices, and written words to unfold and share the wisdom of the Sacred Feminine. Her Podcast, the Intuitive Way of Love, debuts December 8th, 2022.
Linda offers sanctuaries, intimate small-group programs, to women healers who want to bring spirituality into their work, and to women writers who are ready to share, get feedback, revise, and publish.
Through her Apprentice’s Way individual all-in-one mentorship program, Linda encourages her clients’ spiritual evolution, psychological health, effective writing, messaging, marketing, and content creation.
Visit www.lindasandelpettit.com to learn more about her programs and array of masterclasses and courses.
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