A beginning

Happy New Year!

I know I'm a little late, but today is Epiphany, the day we celebrate the bringing of gifts by the Magi in celebration of the birth of Jesus.  So in a way this is the beginning of something big.

When you think about all the gifts you have received or given at Christmas, how many of them stand out to you in your mind?  This past year, my son and his girlfriend gave me a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.  They did so because (a) they know that I love the Charlie Brown story, and (b) as a child my Christmas tree was 25 twinkle lights wrapped around a fake bonsai tree in our living room.  Their gift was meaningful because they took the time to validate my memory and connected this gift with a piece of my story.

As we unwrap the gospels, the stories of Jesus, they become meaningful for more reasons than their profound wisdom.  They become meaningful because we find ourselves in the story.  We discover a God who has chosen to truly be one with us.  This is not God's self improvement plan or his restoration project.  This is simply the story of a God who has taken the time to know our story and enter into the mess that it is.  I cannot think of a more memorable gift.

As we begin a New Year, may we resolve to connect our stories one with another… to connect them through unbridled love for one another and in doing so may we experience the love of God.

Peace,
Pal