To celebrate Chanukah, the Jewish Festival Of Lights, Spiritual Directors International member Jennifer (Jinks) Hoffmann from Canada offers a poem she wrote December 3, 2010.

On Being A Lover

Do you remember those days, right around
the beginning of the romance,
when you simply couldn't remove
your rose-coloured glasses with the
rainbow frames? When you were flooded
with hope and goodwill and a generosity
that emanated from you and cast a golden light
for miles? Remember how, every time you looked at
your lover you simply saw the beauty in him,
his very best? And how he basked in your
love, and indeed, kept inching towards becoming
his very best?
Remember when all the lists of your grievances
or demands that he be different,
were burned in the passion
that danced from you, and when,
because he felt so joyous about
your witnessing, hope and goodwill and generosity
emanated from him too?
 
[Do you think this is how Shekhinah feels all the time?
Especially around Chanukah, when we are all
potentially candles that will not be extinguished?
For the soul of man is the candle of God.]

                   – Jennifer (Jinks) Hoffmann 
 
*Shekhinah: God's indwelling Presence, sometimes referred to as the Feminine side of God
*Chanukah: Festival Of Lights, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness.
*Proverbs 20:27

Which lines from "On Being A Lover" speak to you?

Please share your response, or your own Chanukah reflections and traditions with the SDI community. Add a story or comment to this post.