Standing on the Hinge of a New Year

by Jessica Girija Jewell

As we stand at the threshold of a new year, I’d like to share a prayer by Reverend Maureen Killoran. Each winter I revisit it because it inspires in me a tender tenacity to live more courageously and more connected — as though I were a hinge, opening a door toward a more generous and kind future. I hope it offers you inspiration too, and helps you remember your quiet dignity and your sacred place in time.

"Not gold, nor myrrh, nor even frankincense

would I have for you this season,

but simple gifts, the ones that are hardest to find,

the ones that are perfect, even for those who have everything (if such there be).

I would have for you the gift of courage,

the strength to face the gauntlets only you can name,

and the firmness in your heart to know

that you can be a bearer of the quiet dignity

that is the human glorified.

I would have for you the gift of connection,

the sense of standing on the hinge of time,

touching past and future,

standing with certainty that you

are the point where it all comes together.

I would have for you the gift of community,

a nucleus of love and challenge,

to convince you in your soul

that you are a source of light

in a world too long believing in the dark."

I hope our growing community of seekers can help one another remember that we are, each of us, a source of light, as we walk together through the next cycle of time.