New Year

Happy (Almost) New Year. The last few words and images from Advent led up to welcoming the Infant Lord. The words were “Ask”, “Relate”, “Delight”, “Love”, and “Receive”. As we move into the new year, I hope these images will linger and offer hope in my heart and in yours. Like last week, we can put them together in a sentence that offers a roadmap for the coming year:

We Ask things of God and, like Mary, respond to what he Asks of us. Only in that way can we Relate to one another and Delight in the arrival of the Love we Receive on Christmas Day, which will be with us into 2015!

My images from last this week may not seem like they fit into the holiday spirit. A swirl of koi, a lazy cat, a flower, and a child at Easter seem more summery than Christmas-tide. To me, though, they speak of our journey and arrival at the Manger I spoke of in this blog on Thursday.

The koi begging for a treat remind me that we often ask for things we don’t really need and yet God gives us exactly what we need. The cat dozing in the sun helps me think of resting in and relating to God, as does the beauty of the flower. The child is perfect for Christmas Eve. Many of us go to a Christmas Pageant this time of year and through the Story, told by children, we are reminded that God comes to us in the most unexpected ways. The image from Facebook of the word God speaks to me of hope and faith, as does the photo of the ice designs from the top of my car one day. God can create beauty from anything and everything.

 

I pray that in the coming year I can have the wisdom and willingness to allow God to take the coldness in me and transform it into beauty. I pray also that you will allow God to transform you into the beloved child you are.

Next week we enter a new year and a new church season. What will we discover in Epiphany when we consider the Manifesting of God to the World?