After welcoming Christ's birth in the darkest time of the year, it should not be surprising to find our sun taking its sweet time setting over the horizon.  At least for those of us in Northern California, we notice that the nights do not descend so quickly upon us.  On the way walking over to church for evening Vespers, we can catch a bit of the sun casting its bright, golden-orange hue over our orchards.  Perhaps just that angle of sunlight refracted by the shape of a building is enough to make us pause and become suddenly aware that a glorious thing just happened:  The earth rotated on its axis and moved along on its orbit as we stopped to ponder creation.  In those moments, time seems to stand still.  But they do not last long.  And so, we continue along our own paths moving along on our own orbits.  Meanwhile in these long winter months, we wait like the bare trees in our orchards for some bit of warmth to touch our souls and enliven in us with the strength to persevere.