Beyond Epiphany

          Yesterday and today things began to resume a more normal household pace, with one exception… the weather.  Since moving from The Quiet Place, in the high northwestern mountains of North Carolina, to live with my son and his family in Des Moines, Iowa, one things stands out, above the volume of many voices under one roof.  It is bitterly cold here, more so than in the tranquil mountains, which were my home for twenty years.  The cacophony of calls, responses, dismay, and joy, occasionally falling into intermittent quiet, actually slip into a pattern, a family symphony, if you will.  But the concert takes on another life when there is a blizzard, blowing outside, and the low is -20 and the high is -7.  Other than hearing and seeing each other you feel each other.  You are closed-in together with a mountain of snow, gradually building with each snowflake, outside the doors and windows.  It is in these tender times you can feel the heart and spirit of the others.  And when you feel the heart and spirit of another you understand, on a deeper level, why they are frustrated, or are dealing with some hurt feelings, or maybe even growing angry because a basketball game is missed, due to weather.  There is no escaping the family in these conditions.  It is, what it is, and it is the time we have been given to be together… really together.  So, the old familiar boardgames come out, Monopoly, Uno, Charades, and even Twister.  And with energies channeled into the game of the moment things settle into playful cheers and jeers, for a while.  It can be a test of wills, or it can be the golden opportunity to patiently see how things unfold through it all.  And through it all there is love.  This morning my eight year old grandson said something that stuck with me.  My 4 year old granddaughter wanted to resume the game of Twister from last night.  He was not ready to do so.  Then he said, in defense of his position, countering his sister’s persistence that he play.  It was, “If you could make everyone do what you want them to do, it would be pretty boring.”  True words.  We all must do what we are called to do, even when it is not what others want us to do, even when the others are those who really love us, and whom we love too. 

          The reading I have chosen today is from Luke 2:41-50

The Reading

January 13, 2024

“ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”^{[a] 50} But they did not understand what he was saying to them.” Luke 2:41-50.