I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought for you are not ready for thought.
So the darkness shall be light, and the stillness the dancing.
T S Eliot, “East Coker,” Four Quartets

We have entered the season of Advent. The time of anticipation and preparation of new life, new birth, new beginnings.

Here in the northern hemisphere, the days grow shorter, night falls quickly and the dark surrounds us.

We are waiting.

So often in our fast-paced, let’s get ‘er over and done with world, this time of year becomes a continuous flow of too few minutes jam-packed with shopping and decorating and baking and partying. We rush from store to store, furiously crossing items off our list in our quest to buy that one special thing that one special person truly needs. We rush into everything for fear we won’t get ‘er all done before nightfall only to throw ourselves on our beds where we toss and turn worrying that we forgot one gift, one more thing to bake, one more person to see, one more place to go.

So often, the meaning behind gift-giving and family gatherings and friends visiting gets lost beneath the pace of our constant rushing to acquire, get and do whatever it takes to create the perfect holiday season. The perfect family dinner. The perfect memories of all of us together.

If we just had time.

Let us slow down. Let us stop and breathe deeply. Let us celebrate this moment, right now, in which time is all around us, flowing through our being present in every moment and every thing we do.

Let us shift our relationship with the season. Let us shift our relationship with time, the darkness, the waning or the waxing of the light at the end of each day.

There is no time but this time right now.

And there is time. There is always time. To do what must be done. To get what must be got. To finish what must be finished. But first, we must enter into this time with our hearts open to the abundance, beauty and awe of this moment passing right now.

Let us Make Time for the Sacred.

A few years ago, I created an Advent celebration: Make Time for the Sacred.

It is a weekly email that contains a reading, an audio meditation and a few contemplative questions designed to bring you deeper into self-awareness and understanding of this special time of year, of your relation to the sacred and your connection to the holy and reverent state of being present here on earth.

Over the next four weeks, beginning today, I will be posting each weekly meditation on my website and invite you to join me throughout this season of Advent in an exploration of the quiet hours before the dawn, the silent time before the coming of new life, new birth, new beginnings that this time of year represents.

No matter your faith, believer or non-believer, my vision is that Make Time for the Sacred will connect you to the deeper essence of our shared human condition, our shared holy presence on this planet earth we share.

Embedded in this graphic is the link to the PDF for Week 1.

Within each PDF is an audio-file link to the guided meditation.

In Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy.

Namaste.