The Miracle of Advent

At Thistle Farms, Christmas comes in waves. It comes like bright red and white headlights stopping in at the café or shop.

It comes in surprise gift cards kind friends drop off for women who are spending their first season in years free. It comes in the rough sack the postman still carries into the shop daily, with remembrances from friends around the world.

As all our trees are being trimmed this year, I have felt Christmas in the three requests from Thistle Farms graduates who need help with their tuition for their next semester at college.

An email appears, layered with thanks and embarrassment about some glitch in financial aid, or an old, defaulted loan has surfaced from when the student was still out on the streets.

Something in the big, old systems that I imagine circle our earth like Saturn’s rings, has figured out the next way to keep someone who has known injustice as long as she has known her name, from making progress. Usually, there are long responses, forms to fill out, and the stress begins of not knowing whether you can continue your degree.

For the past two years, Thistle Farms and The Center For Contemplative Justice have partnered to say "yes" and pay tuition for women survivors who are enrolled in college.

This year, while I am watching and waiting for a peace to pass my understanding, I am celebrating the miracle that any path forward is possible.

It may be less traveled, it may be full of bumps from past mistakes, and it might be we have been tripped by our own feet. But the Christmas message this year is clear, “there is a way through the darkness with the hope community offers”.

Let us love one another―another year.
Let us give to one another―another year.
Let us celebrate the good news that love heals―another year!

-- Becca Stevens

The Miracle of Advent

The Miracle of Advent

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