Happy New Year!

Advent Mushrooms

The other morning, at breakfast, the girls opened their Advent calendars and found a mushroom-shaped chocolate. La Segunda said, "that's so weird, why a mushroom?!" I agreed, it WAS weird. And La Prima said, "There's always a mushroom on an Advent calendar. I thought about it, and she was right, I remember seeing mushrooms on Advent calendars, as long as I can remember. They are the red ones, with white spots, big caps. I told the girls I would do some internet research and see what I could find.

I asked the question on my FB, and lo and behold, I got a link from a friend to this clip:


And then, I realized, this, as with most spiritual/religious traditions that is bizarre on the surface, really does makes sense. So, sit back, have some fruitcake, and enjoy the clip. This experience will remind me that when there is a strange coincidence, ask some questions!

St Lucia's Day

Today has been filled with quiet beauty and wonderful coincidences, and I am grateful for that!

I hadn't realized that today was St Lucia's Day, until a friend posted the photo (above) from The Old Farmer's Almanac. And then another friend sent me this message, below. Just lovely.

Enjoy:

A friend of mine is posting excerpts from Holy books about Jesus every day until Christmas. I am often inspired by your devotion, and thought of you when I was reading them:

From the Qur'an, the angels describing Jesus: "When the angels said, 'O Mary, ALLAH gives thee glad tidings of a son through a word from HIM; his name shall be the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who are granted nearness to God; And he shall speak to the people in the cradle, and when of middle age, and he shall be of the righteous.'"

Jesus in the words of Baha'u'llah: "Know thou that when the Son of Man yielded up His breath to God, the whole creation wept with a great weeping. By sacrificing Himself, however, a fresh capacity was infused into all created things. Its evidences, as witnessed in all the peoples of the earth, are now manifest before thee. The deepest wisdom which the sages have uttered, the profoundest learning which any mind hath unfolded, the arts which the ablest hands have produced, the influence exerted by the most potent of rulers, are but manifestations of the quickening power released by His transcendent, His all-pervasive, and resplendent Spirit.