The Christmas Lights of Life ceremonies help us remember our loved ones in a tangible and communal way. Hospice Yukon Society in Whitehorse Yukon holds these ceremonies as an annual occurrence in our neck of the woods. They do this to give those of us who have experienced the loss of a loved one a way to remember their life
After the ceremonies folks can place a tag with a personally written message to the one they’ve lost on one of the lit Christmas remembrance trees, like those you see in the photo attached to this post.
The Christmas season can be an especially difficult time for those living in grief. I remember it well from my own experiences in that particular vale of tears.
The Lights of Life ceremony has made an enormous impact on me personally over the years and now become my annual touchstone. It’s a time of willing and loving remembrance on these occasions not only of my daughter, but also of others close to me who have since made their own journeys beyond. It is also a time of equally willing connection from my heart with others in attendance still enduring their own journeys of grief and recovery, in the hopes of perhaps being able to touch and help them along by a simple word or gesture of understanding.
My involvement will continue into the future for all of those good reasons and purposes of the heart.
The experience of human grief is universal to us all at some point in our lives, and the communal connection and healing purposes served by functions such as the Hospice Lights of Life ceremony is a crucial support to our healing from that grief.
It allows us to see and experience the truth that we are never as alone in our own experiences as grief makes us feel we are, and by that single truth we become empowered to reach deeper into the wellsprings of our grieving pain to find the healing that waits for us all at the end of our journeys.
I encourage those of you who are still dealing with grieving issues to look around and see if you can find a similar Christmas ceremony such as the Christmas Lights of Life ceremonies that we have locally, and then go attend it for your own sakes.
Whether your local version is called the Lights of Life is not at issue – it’s the opportunity for connection with others like you, and the chance to share a conscious remembrance of your loved one which matters the most and will count the most towards your healing .
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