December feels like an overload — deadlines, nonstop black Friday/Cyber Monday texts, shopping lists, medical appointments, financial clocks — all piling higher and louder until they burst into one big finale.
We’re herded toward that climax as if everything must be finished, bought, healed, or solved before the calendar flips.
But Ecclesiastes reminds us: to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Chaos comes and goes. Stillness of spirit remains.
And in twelve days, Hanukkah begins — eight nights of light. Hanukkah teaches us that joy doesn’t have to be crammed into one finale. It grows slowly, one candle at a time, night by night, reminding us that peace and rhythm endure beyond the noise.
This season doesn’t have to be about overload. It can be about slowing down and finding peace.
12-02-25