AHAAAAAA

Although the Christmas season officially ended on Epiphany,  January 6, I keep my little box in plain sight that says, "I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year."
 Wouldn't that be fun!
Yet, like the tree that by now has shed most of its needles and is lying somewhere waiting to be recycled, we might feel pretty ready to 'recycle' this wild season of giving and receiving, of food and fun, of celebrating with friends and family.
That's what is so wonderful about the changing seasons.
We can shift gears.
We can look forward to new discoveries based upon our past experiences.
Perhaps that's why we make resolutions for the new year.
We want to build new structures upon our old base.

As I linger a little longer with my daily reflections, I do wonder if those astronomers looking for a new king were just like us.
Perhaps their expectation was to begin anew, make new discoveries, start fresh with a new leader.
Perhaps they expected to find what they were looking for and bring this 'new hope' back to their home base.

Yet, they had an 'epiphany' . . .  an 'ahaaaa' experience when they 'discovered' Emmanuel, God with us.
Their entire life-focus changed.
They came.

They saw.
They understood.

Their expectation made a dramatic turn as they returned home via a different route in order to protect the One they honored.

They returned empty handed . . .
    Or did they?
Leaving gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh shows me that something profound happened that caused these men to change.
They came home filled to the brim with an 'aha' experience, an epiphany!

I, personally, cannot turn on a dime like that.
I would need to mull over the situation, linger over the ramifications, study, wonder.
I would need to "sit on it' awhile.
'Epiphany' takes me a loooooooong time for some reason.
Yet, I too had a personal 'aha' experience with God through the power of the Holy Spirit years ago.
I still wonder, discover and continue to build on past experiences with my Emmanuel.

What joy I feel to look forward to another day of questioning, lingering a little longer over a passage of scripture and actually 'getting it'.

I may have read the same passage a thousand times and even reflected upon it several different ways.

Yet, I seem to always be surprised when I see the same words from a different perspective.

That's why I remain motivated to stick with daily my scripture reading.

I come into my quiet place.

I see words that seem to come alive in new ways each time I read them.

I gain new understanding that aids my daily journey.

These small 'aha' experiences seem to make my day.

I feel refreshed.

I'm energized to head into the day with renewed energy.
. . . until the next day
 . . .  when I seek more understanding
 . . . in order to renew that sense of Epiphany.

God with us, Emmanuel.
Like the little box, He will remain with me through all the year . . .  forever.