"Hudson River Magic", oil,
by Jamie Williams Grossman

     Someone on the radio this morning spoke of “the magic of Christmas”, and it started me thinking of another kind of magic, more concealed and commonplace, the kind I can be grateful for every second of my life. The cells in my body, for instance, are constantly making magic in countless ways. Like diminutive, multifaceted factories, they are continuously engaged in manufacturing extremely complex molecules called proteins, and are steadily waging intricate battles against any “invaders” that might upset my body’s mechanisms. Not only that, my cells are replacing and renewing themselves so fast and efficiently that I become, in a sense, a new person roughly every 7-10 years!

   That’s a personalized, custom-made kind of magic that happens always and endlessly, not just at Christmas -- certainly a reason for a heartfelt alleluia.