I wasn't quite ready to put everything away when the Christmas Tree was heaved out and hewn up last week. I couldn't part with all the touches that adorned the house, reminding me how only days ago, all the world seemed to still with a wonder and mystery almost tangible in the air. I guess I wasn't ready to let go of the "magic" of Christmas yet. I was suspended and didn't want to slough it all off, trudge back into the work-a-day attitude of the new year. I wanted to linger here, where my heart skipped a beat and my throat caught a little. Where my eyes felt misty and the stillness seeped into the fabric of my heart.
Sometimes it's easy to get let down when all the waiting comes suddenly to an end, when the calendar page turns.
So I kept the Nativity up a little longer to celebrate Epiphany this year. I stayed longer upon the story of the small family of three and the story of the wise men who traveled in search of something they couldn't understand, but knew was worth their risk and their adoration.
I wanted to stay inspired by what inspired them.
This new year of 2012 I feel already that I am clinging to the Scripture that claims that "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him". (James 1:5 NAS)
I'm looking for my own epiphany I guess, and I feel I'm on a journey following what often feels like a faint star in the distance. Opening my eyes, my ears, and my heart to be lead to the feet of majesty, to lay my own gifts before God and be directed where He wills.
I'm surrendering to His timing more, I'm submitting to the call of that which I don't completely understand and I'm placing one foot in front of the other with more faith as he grants it to me in grace.
I'm humbled by the story of epiphany, they may not have been kings, and they may not have been from the orient and we have no way of knowing that there were only three of them, but of course that's not what matters about their story. What matters is that they set out and headed for a mystery that was worth following and what they found was worth all the searching...is worth all the searching of today.
And that's a wonder and majesty that doesn't get forgotten just because it's time to pack all the tinsel away. It's an inspiration that I want to last all the year, a light in the darkness leading me always closer to King of the Universe made Emanuel...
God with us....
all year long.
