What follows is the weekly column we email every Friday that is a companion to this weekly podcast. This podcast episode expands on the content of the column.

The holiday season is a season of lights. As we approach the darkest day of the year, it's good to remember that lights symbolize hope, a symbol central to both Christmas and Hanukkah celebrations, along with many other traditions.

Have you ever noticed that when a tragic event occurs in a community, one of the most common responses is to host a candlelight vigil? This a place where people come together to find strength in each other, and in the small, simple act of lighting each other's candles.

And have you ever stopped to think that when you have a lit candle and reach out to light someone else's candle, it in no way diminishes your light? If you have ten dollars and give five to a friend, monetarily you have half of what you had at the beginning. On the other hand, we can share the light of a candle with countless others, and still, our light burns brightly just the same.

As we celebrate the upcoming holidays, our hope is that we can all commit to being candles of light, spreading love and kindness to all we encounter.

Wishing you all wonderful light-filled holidays, we close with words from Mary Oliver, a favorite poet of ours:

"But I also say this:

that light is an invitation to happiness,

and that happiness, when it's done right,

is a kind of holiness,

palpable and redemptive."