Warm and bright be our candle’s flame today,
Since into gloom you brought a gleaming light,
And lead again us, if you will, together!
We know it: you are beaming in the night.

When silence now will snow around us ev’rywhere,
So let us hear the all-embracing sound
Of greater things than we can see and wider,
Your world, and all your children’s soaring hail.

By loving forces wonderfully sheltered,
We are awaiting fearlessly what comes.
God is with us at dusk and in the morning
And most assuredly on ev’ry day.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I am glad and grateful that Saskia and my granddaughter Sanne-Roos danced the A and B part of “Zuversicht” = confidence, hope (CD: Gezeiten des Lebens - Tides of Life) for us in the freezing cold in the park of Gouda and that Mees Arentsen filmed and edited everything.
Link to the film

„Zuversicht" is life-affirming, the optimistic and more active form of hope.

Especially in the Advent season, in the days leading up to Christmas, we long for silence, for peace and security, and for people who let us know how much they feel connected to us. And Christmas poses the question of what significance this festival still has for us today and what we really believe in. According to Eugen Drewermann, the Christmas story in its poetry is a way of speaking to people directly into their hearts, their dreams and their souls. He sees e.g. Christmas as the festival of a new beginning and the need to set out and follow the angels and stars,“so little external change is necessary, because we change the world from our heart.” R.M. Rilke R.M. Rilke

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Friedel