How are you? How has your year been? As we approach the end of the year, how are you thinking about your life? I’m sitting at Beth Israel Lahey while my wife of 35 years, Emily, is in surgery; I’m anxious, scared, hopeful that her health will improve. We’ve been so focused on today’s surgery that I haven’t thought about the holidays approaching or the end of the year.  

I’m grateful we have access to good healthcare but I am very aware that a lot of folks in this state and this country do not have it – and that the whole system is precarious. I know how fortunate I am to have a nice place to live and enough food to eat. 

Cards are arriving with various positive messages to remind us of the holidays: Peace;  Shalom aleichem; As-salamu alaykum; Shaanti; Peace on Earth. Are we all trying a little harder to be nice, hoping Santa sees our good intentions? Life is such a bundle of contradictions, but maybe the holidays are important for helping us be our better selves, to strengthen our faith and hope, hope that we need to manage life’s chaos? Light the candles; let there be peace on earth!

What about our neighbors in need? When food stamps were halted for a time last month, our community jumped into action with both the Open Table and Maynard Food Pantry asking for our help and then helping so many more people than they ever have. It’s not just Shop Local, it’s Be Local and Be Involved.

Part of why I love living here in Maynard is seeing the response to a crisis like the loss of food stamps. Both because we see that people do care, but also because we’re small enough, on a manageable scale, so that the efforts we make show tangible results. Imagine how surprised and happy we were when we got home from the hospital and our wonderful neighbor had brought us dinner! 

I hope this doesn’t sound morose because I am not. But I do think about how hard the holidays can be; we have such expectations for comfort and joy with families together meaning something. If that perfect holiday celebration fits your family, I hope you enjoy every minute. If the holidays and life are hard for you, I hope there will be some moments where you’re enjoying yourself.

So let’s buckle down for these hard winter months. Enjoy the lights and sounds of Hannukah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa. The world, and our little corner of it, is a beautiful, amazing place. I hope we can see and enjoy the beauty and use it to sustain us through the challenges life brings us.

And those social problems we can’t agree on, that are deeply dividing us, I hope we can use our lights to bring us together in peace so we can learn to talk with each other and gain some understanding of how dependent on each other we really are.