Epiphany 2009

Epiphany: 1) the Christian festival commemorating the showing of Jesus to the Magi, celebrated on January 6th (Oxford Amer.); 2) a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (Merriam Webster).

Today is 'Epiphany' - per definition #1.

I trust that everyone has had a full and Joyous Christmas season & a Happy ringing-in of 2009! It has been a while since I've posted, but Christmastime around our house is - well - busy & full. (Many of my die-hard blogging friends haven't missed a stroke of the keyboard. I'm amazed at their stamina...I must confess, I can only multi-task just so many things! If you've happened back by this blog, I'm GLAD you're here. If you're here for the first time, the same goes.)

Back to Epiphany.

Last week, I was reading Jerry Bledsoe's The Gift of Angels. Jerry Bledsoe is a North Carolina writer; a "local". He's well known for his chilling 'true crime' stuff, but this book is a poignant story of his adult search for a childhood friend. As the prelude to the book's "part 2", he quotes part of the Prayer of St. Francis . I've seen & read this prayer before, but for some reason, I was struck in a new way as I read these words,

"...Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive..."

I'll call my being 'struck' an epiphany (definition #2). See, I've read & even prayed this prayer before. But in 2009, and today on Epiphany, I'm moved to try & live it. No short order, I don't think. It'll take a lot of other prayer to try to live this one.

I guess that's what my epiphany was: to try & live each day with a deeper trust & understanding that Christ has come, is here among us, & is ever-present. That I'm seeking Him. And, to celebrate - not just on January 6th, but every day - that when I seek Him, He will be found. Hallelujah!

But, isn't that the point of Epiphany anyway? The Wise Men, the Magi, trusted & understood that Emmanuel was a reality, & they sought Him sight unseen. And He was found.

Praise be to God!

~~~