Anticipating Epiphany.....To End and Begin

Only five days in to NabLoPoMo and I have missed a day of blogging already. I have no good excuses to offer. I simply forgot. Instead of writing about change yesterday, I was doing it. I'm afraid I anticipated Epiphany a bit and took down Christmas. I felt the worst about the creche. The kings had not even gotten a chance to really settle in and adore when the box came out and they got packed away till next year. But Christmas, as I have been reminded in ever so many ways this year is not about a season, or things or decor. The Love that we celebrate arriving in incarnate form came and stayed. It doesn't get packed up with the lights and the garland to wait in silent darkness for another season.

As much as I love having my house decorated, there is a kind of calm serenity after it all comes down that I also enjoy. It seems more spacious. Especially this year as I really claimed the process for myself. I purged a lot of old holiday junk and got it down to a manageable amount. As I packed it away I organized it in totes and labeled them so decorating next year should be a snap.

Though all of this did include a fair amount of work, it seemed like a good thing to do on the Sabbath. It was reflective and restful in that it got me thinking about Christmasas past and how different this one was and why. Perhaps it is this new birthed and steadily growing love in my life, but the whole Incarnational aspect of Christmas has been striking me anew. Especially as I preached John's Gospel on Christmas I, that from the beginning this was in the mind of God...to be among us, to be us so that we could know God and become more like God. It really does boggle the mind to be loved that much by the Creator of the universe. Sometimes I can only think about such things while doing mundane things like sweeping tree needles and picking up stray ornament hooks.

And tomorrow it is officially Epiphany. If I had to pick a day for my spiritual anniversary, this would be it. Epiphany Sunday was the day that I finally said yes to God and meant it as I wrote about last year in this post . Anniversaries for me are always a time to take stock of the last year. What has changed, what needs attention, where do we seem to be going. So that is the intention for the next twenty-four hours. To find some space for quiet. To focus on this relationship, to reaffirm this commitment, to once again say yes to whatever God has in store for me knowing this year at an even deeper and profound level that I am loved and God truly is holding my life.