The hallmark of an epiphany is an awareness of interaction between God and humans, between humans and other humans. It’s love’s revelation and mercy beyond justice.
Christmas and its holiday season is a majestic epiphany moment for new beginnings and a wheelhouse of revelations for fresh starts. Where might we be found in its story at the creche? Sadly, too many of us find more post holiday hopelessness than happiness that lingers beyond our bit of a break to inspire new starts!
Think about it – goodwill and grace at Christmas soothes our hearts and souls. We find inspiration to open its treasure and reboot its blessings and benefits long after the holiday fades and as dreams that it spawned gradually get fulfilled.
Just as grace guided the birth of God in human form, it also equips us to navigate an epiphany through bumps and barriers we face, by celebrating kindness, love and generosity rebooted for ourselves and gregariously offered to others.
An epiphany inspires us to hold at the same time, and with similar care, both humanity and divinity, sacred and secular in reverence as we bump into ups and downs daily.
We embrace the sacred by our reverence for a God who loves us as if we lived grace by choosing a wise path through everything. We engage all life with acceptance and a joyful commitment in our cherished appreciation. Divinity rests in every single thing as grace hovers over daily choices so we judge less harshly, and care more kindly when we bump into things both secular and sacred.
Grace is our epiphany contact sport and we are mere mortals who tend to bump into sharp and broken things. Grace keeps us looking for life’s majestic revelations. When we slip into judging, blaming or demonizing ourselves or our world, we’re wooed back by divine wonder and healed in grace’s flow.
God’s our epiphany! Human, in flesh, and ever-present in divinity, agape love defines Christmas and keeps its revelation alive. Yes, in spite of setbacks such as loneliness, regrets or struggles we grapple with in holiday celebrations and in regular routines that follow.
What part does the epiphany play in your life and how might a fresh revelation of God incarnate guide your 2023? (See Matthew 2: 1 – 12 in The Message)
Modern author of family interactions, L.R. Knost wrote, “ Do not be dismayed by the brokenness in the world. All things break and all things can be mended. Not with time as they say, but with the intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” ( LR Knost)
Barricades to an epiphany can also be prevented in L.R. Knost’s words “Forgiveness empties the past of its power to empty the present of its peace.”
Will the epiphany make grace your contact sport today?
