Celebrating Birth
We’ve been celebrating birth for a very long time. Not just people, but moments, ideas, and turning points. We mark it with cake and candles, gifts and gatherings, even pilgrimages and parades. But underneath all that is something quieter, a shared knowing that life is always arriving. The earth seems to remember it, the air carries it, and something in us stirs when a beginning is noticed.
Now, my beginning… my spark was struck while my parents were working on the Navajo reservation near Chinle, Arizona, in 1968. Then, months later, on May 1, 1969, near the Black Hills of Northeast Wyoming, my flame ignited. My candle got lit. And here we are.
Since then, I’ve come to see that life doesn’t begin only once. It keeps unfolding through small, steady beginnings. New ways of seeing, timely teachers, rooted relationships, unexpected turns, and communities forming. In loud and quiet ways, another candle is always being lit. Along the way, I’ve learned the importance of honoring those moments in others, too, the births and milestones that shape who we become.
I’ve also learned, through both joy and tragedy, that every flame will one day go out. That’s part of the deal. But the warmth doesn’t disappear; it transforms, becoming kindling for what ignites next. With this deeper understanding, I can then recognize that I’m in a relationship with something creative and alive; a Spirit that loves me.
So today, I carry an ongoing sense of celebration within me, honoring my candle which stays lit, and applauding all the beautiful flames in this world that warm and give light to us all.
This is my “VERY BRIGHT” journey
— Nate Long “Owl”