Winter’s Gift
by Reverend Lane Williams
I thank God for the gift of winter. For me it is a time for inner reflection. When it’s dark and cold outside, nature has shut down. I now take the opportunity to quiet the outer activity, and explore the inner world. Prayer and meditation times seem to produce more healing and greater insight. Just as we know that beneath the snow the dormant seeds will push through with new life in the Spring, we know that our inner spiritual work is being done within our souls.
I like to watch TV. Some of my favorite programs feed me spiritually; some are mindless escape, some just make me laugh. It’s all good, of course. There is a program that comes on really late; it’s for the mature audiences, those that can handle sexual themes and nudity. Violence isn’t a major theme; that’s for the shows the kids can watch. (Yes, I am sarcastic at times!) It’s “Saving Grace” with Holly Hunter who deserves an Emmy or Oscar or both for her role. There is an angel, Earl who is there to assist Grace in uncovering her hidden past and healing herself. He gives her clues in the little gifts he gives her. Now on the surface these trinkets have little meaning, but over the course of the series they turn out to be important puzzle pieces on the path to healing her painful, buried past and restoring her to wholeness. Metaphysically I see this happening all around me in my life. Spirit gives me little trinkets all the time that I can choose to use for healing and restoring wholeness, to bring me peace.
We metaphysicians like to look beyond the outer appearance to the inner meaning, to the spiritual undertones beneath the physical manifestation. Webster’s Dictionary defines metaphysics as “the branch of philosophy that systematically investigates the nature of first principles and problems of ultimate reality…” Charles Fillmore states that metaphysics is “the systematic study of the science of Being; that which transcends the physical.” Through this study we discern the realities, the fundamental Truths in the inner life of every human being. We believe that God as Spirit is the invisible Life and Intelligence underlying all things.
In my own life this shows up as me, the girl detective I always wanted to be, ferreting out the inner meaning in life’s events. I believe and therefore act from that belief, of course, that there is a Divine Message available to each of us in even the mundane and everyday happenings of our lives. I KNOW that we are absolutely safe; we are divinely protected. I say this and I can hear murmurings from the audience, “Yeah, right. What about the homeless, hungry and victims caught up in war-torn regions of the world? Are they protected?” I say yes, we are always given the opportunity to draw upon the inherent gifts, the divine powers available to us – faith, strength, love, power, imagination, understanding, order, zeal, will, judgment, renunciation, and life. In fact the heroes in our lives have used those faculties to bring themselves out of darkness, despair, poverty, and imprisonment into the light. We are alive to heal our mistakes, to support others in their healing, and to shine forth as the loving presence we were created to be. Thank you God; thank you for this understanding and for the opportunity again to shine that perfect light into the darkness of fear, anger, and ignorance. Thank you, God. And so it is.
