I’ve been dreading this new year. So far I haven’t been disappointed. It seems to be picking up right where the old year left off, and that’s not what I was hoping would happen. But as the old saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Taking time for quiet reflection helps solidify experience and helps clear the decks to make space for the next adventure.
But the first step is to get them to sit down. In order to receive what they need, they must stop and settle. They must still their anxious feet and pounding hearts and take a breath. Only then do they become open to get what Jesus has to give them.
In the peace and quiet of a soul at rest,
let me make my prayer to You,
O Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.
I like that thought too: that even though I can’t really see Jesus or touch him or talk to him, I know he’s still here. I feel his love in worship. I experience his goodness through loving my neighbors. I taste and touch his grace in bread and wine.
“So, yes, the wedding feast has meaning. It was the place where Jesus first acted, not in the Temple courtyard or in the synagogue, but in a home filled with joyous people, people celebrating a new family and the promise of children and a life to come.”
“I can’t plan an epiphany, but I learned that they could happen at any time, anywhere, and about almost anything. It’s a joyful moment, and it’s a discovery that changes my perceptions.”
“The Twelfth Night should remind us that there’s joy in giving, just as surely as we are reminded of the gifts of the wise men tomorrow as we celebrate.”
“And yet we have no burning bush, but only burning words that we cling to in our minds in the hope that our bodies shall see God.”
“When Jesus, in today’s passage, says, “I am the gate,” does he mean that he is the only avenue through which one can know God?”