New Beginnings

 

That is what today feels like.  I found out yesterday - yes it took 5 days for me to get a covid test!!! - that I DON'T HAVE COVID!

Which means I get to leave the house and go to work today and see people - with my mask on.  And go to the grocery store and even play pickleball.  Yes - yes - yes.  It is a very good feeling.  Meanwhile Audrey - who actually has covid - is feeling fine and just waiting for the quarantine to end for her to be able to get out of the house.  We have really been lucky with it all.

Today is officially the beginning of the holy season of Epiphany and the scripture for the Pray as you Go App was the story of the Three Kings as recorded in Matthew.  It is a favorite text for me and I have preached on it often.  It symbolizes the journey that we are all on to find God in our lives.  I always liked the detail of their following the star and somehow ending up in Jersalem and the palace of Herod.  Which speaks to the reality that we find Jesus in unlike places - not the place of power and greed.  But we can easily get distracted and led astray.

However, they followed the star and were attentive to the dream and went home a different way and were not used by Herod as he intended.  The Christmas story itself has people being guided by angels, stars and dreams - all of which mean we need to be open to God's subtle, subversive communication.  It is interesting that the older I get, the more my prayers are about guidance - show me the way, Lord.  And it is not always obvious what I should do and where I should go.

My mantra for this season - and maybe for my whole life now is - Wait and it will be revealed.  There is trust and patience necessary in that statement.  

One of the suggestions in my daily prayer today was to look back on my journey to Bethlehem this year - my own Advent and Christmas story.  And as I looked back - all I could see was occasions of love - love given and love received.  Even in my recent quarantine I could not get over the people checking in on me and my daughters care of me.  Truly love is what makes the world go round.

So as I enter into a day of new beginnings - getting out of the house - I seek to love and to see the love that is here in this world and in my world.  I live as a seeker who is always waiting for God to show me where to do and what to do.  But the bottom line to all of it is look for love - it is all around you.

I found a prayer on New Beginnings by Ted Loder - here is how it ends:

Help me to be a beginning to others:
to be a singer to the songless,
a storyteller to the aimless,
a befriender of the friendless;
to become a beginning of hope for the despairing,
of assurance for the doubting,
of reconciliation for the divided;
to become a beginning of freedom for the oppressed,
of comfort for the sorrowing,
of friendship for the forgotten;
to become a beginning of beauty for the forlorn,
of sweetness for the soured,
of gentleness for the angry,
of wholeness for the broken,
of peace for the frightened and violent of the earth.

Help me to believe in beginnings,
to make a beginning,
to be a beginning,
so that I may not just grow old,
but grow new
each day of this wild, amazing life
you call me to live
with the passion of Jesus Christ.