The coming holidays and holy days are already looking good to me.  That’s because a young neighbor has shared with me some wonderful news. And he has given me a fabulous photo that proves it.

He has gotten married! He and his beloved did the deed in her hometown a few weeks ago.  To judge by the photo given me, it must have been a truly glorious event.

He sports a formal suit and a top hat.  She wears a graceful white dress and clasps a colorful bouquet. The wall behind them is covered with red and gold ivy.

They are not only elegant, but obviously delighted. The wide smiles on their faces show forth exuberant joy.  It makes me happy simply to gaze on them both and imagine being there to celebrate the event.

What’s so special about a wedding, I hear you ask.  They happen all the time. Others of my neighbors have been married, many of them for a long time. And many people new to the neighborhood will presumably be getting married.

Well, not exactly.  Marriage is becoming more optional.  Thousands of young couples now live together indefinitely, and never get around to it. Like many remarkably stable families in Europe, they perhaps believe that the marriage contract has no special meaning.

I don’t agree with those naysayers. However, I see the point of testing relationships by living together for a while to see if they work.  (Even so, I remember surveys that show such living together as no guarantee of a successful marriage.)

In any event, I am happy for my young friends who have made their match permanent. Their pledge of love before the community of family and friends, and the general public is heartening to me.  In an era of self-absorption and self-interest, I feel grateful for this reminder that love persists.

Christmas, for me, is an invitation to love.  In the spiritual tradition that runs through my whole life, this special day looms large as a statement of the divine and the human coming together in caring. That’s why, weeks after my neighbors’ wedding, I am taking it as a Christmas event.

Christmas, after all, cannot be confined to a single day. It is worth prolonged celebration. Not so much in buying gifts, however meaningful, but in shaping how we feel about our life and about the world.

At its best, Christmas calls us to gratefulness. One of my favorite gurus, Brother David Steindl-Rast says, “In each of us there is a spark that can reverse the trends of violence and depression spiraling within us and in the world around us. By setting in motion the spiral of gratefulness, we begin the journey toward peace and joy.”

In this season, whatever our tradition, we can feel thankful for inspiration that has been given to us. Like the sun singing through cloud breaks, this gift can enlighten mind and heart.

Inspiration, however, cannot be planned; it is unpredictable and freely given.  As Jesus says of it, “The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.”

It can come at the oddest times, catching us unawares. We can be walking along, without much going on in our head, when all of a sudden, we see into a situation that formerly was mired in unknowing.

A grateful heart can be a source of joy even in the midst of suffering and hardship.  But we achieve this only by stages. Like pilgrims circling a holy mountain, we are embarked on an arduous journey that continues to call us higher.