Image: Melanie Kyer
Glitter through the Hourglass
When I was growing up, my mom watched the soap opera ,”Days of our Lives,” which began each episode with the voiceover “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” At the start of a new year, sometimes it seems like life is slipping through our fingers. We didn’t get to everything on our bucket list, we didn’t finish that book, that salad we bought with good intentions is already wilting in the crisper…
On Dec. 31st, Bishop Brown spoke in his sermon of a different tiny particle– glitter– which, like sand, does seem to get everywhere. He quoted his mentor, who said that “Our dust–our humanity– is shot through with hints of glory.” In other words, in all that sand passing through the hourglass, there are also bits of sacred glitter.
A couple months ago, my Facebook page was suspended because of some kind of hack and I can’t seem to get customer service to help. For all its flaws, social media is an important way for me to keep in contact with many friends and family. I love seeing their photos and getting that little “serotonin boost” when they like mine. I’ve been grieving the lack of social connection with friends far and near. I decided to send “real” Christmas cards this year as a way to re-establish contact, and at first it seemed like this was only highlighting my disconnectedness. I searched in vain for my old tattered address book, poring through boxes and saved computer files, ultimately realizing even the addresses I could locate were often out of date. Since my mother has Alzheimer’s, I could no longer ask her for addresses, either. I felt lost.
Thankfully, Google searches, email and some legwork helped me to recreate an address list. I wrote a “Christmas letter” and looked back at the joys of the past year. I spent a quiet evening with my fountain pen writing out addresses and remembering how important all these friends and relatives are to me. Even as I realized I wouldn’t be sending a card to a dear friend and a cousin, both of whom died in the past year, I gave thanks for the joy they brought. There is so much that glitters in my life.
Through Epiphany we’ll look at the “wondrous star” and hear how those who walked in darkness have seen a “great light” – but I’m thankful to Bishop Brown this week for helping me look at the tiny light of glitter. I hope as the sand passes through your hourglass you will find some glitter, too. It is everywhere.
Melanie Kyer