Gratitude Monday: Those who sit in darkness

This is the last Gratitude Monday before Christmas. And I may have mentioned that I—like millions of others—am sometimes not as into the joy of this season. There is frankly too much shit going on, on both a macro and micro level for me to quite feel…I dunno, festive.

At times like these, I am grateful for the power of music—all kinds of it—to pull me away from the quotidian and wrap myself in beauty. Music has the same power that my morning skyscapes do to fill me with joy, comfort and gratitude.

(This is why I use my morning photos for my computer desktops. When I’m feeling like rage quitting, I close out all the open apps and look at the screen.)

As we round the corner onto Christmas, I think about Ukrainians scrabbling in the ruins of their homes and cities, without heat, light or power thanks to the ego-driven aggressive war waged by Russia; what I’m facing is a puff of wind compared to the hurricane they’ve endured since February.

So I’m sharing one of my all-time favorite Christmas hymns, translated by the Victorian polymath Catherine Winkworth from the German. Its opening verse is imprinted on my soul:

“Comfort, comfort ye, my people
“Speak ye peace, thus saith our God
“Comfort those who sit in darkness
“Mourning under sorrow’s load.
“Speak ye to Jerusalem
“Of the peace that waits for them
“Tell her that her sins I cover
“And her warfare now is over.”

The Cathedral Choir of Saint John the Divine is singing it in a performance from two years ago, when the world definitely needed comfort.

May all who carry sorrow's load find comfort in the beauty of the skies and music.