Tis the season to make New Year’s resolutions, a tradition that has its roots in religious customs. The ancient Babylonians and Romans began the new year by making promises to their gods. In Judaism, the New Year culminates in the Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur in which one reflects on past transgressions and asks God for forgiveness.
In our modern culture, we often make promises to ourselves: a promise to lose weight, eat better, get exercise, or quit some unhealthy habit such as overspending, smoking or drinking. Typically however, our resolutions falter – according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 8% of New Year’s resolutions are successful.
While we have trouble keeping promises we make, God will always keep the promises God makes to us. Our God promises to bring new understandings if we can keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to God’s signs.
In the story, “Counting Epiphanies” by Yokanaan Kearns, a Hawai’I third grade teacher gives her students one last vocabulary word right before Christmas vacation: epiphany.
The narrator complains “…so complicated, da meaning: A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something. One sudden what of da what?”
“You know, “ Lawrence Trans whispa to me, “Like when you no undastand, den all da sudden you undastand!”
What epiphanies are waiting for us to discover in the new year as we open ourselves to God?
How can we keep ourselves open to receiving sudden understandings, epiphanies?
The new year stretches out before us. I look forward to walking the path in 2016 with you, as we keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to God’s signs along the way.
Epiphany Blessings,
Pastor Candice
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