EPIPHANY

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord

There's a hymn that goes, "Open my eyes that I may see, glimpses of truth Thou hast for me. Open my eyes illumine me, Spirit divine." During "hard" times Spirit can get our attention even better than when things seem to be flowing smoothly. The full attention is reaching out for strength, understanding, and connection with Spirit.

Yesterday morning I awoke from my slumber and reached for Spirit. I was not disappointed. Spirit answered my questions, opened my eyes, and gave me glimpses of Truth I had not been able to experience quite so clearly as before. Epiphany! I love that word and I love it when it happens to me. :)

I snatched this from the Internet: "The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." In Western churches, it remembers the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King."

Jesus, not the man Jesus, but the Anointed, the Christ the Presence of Spirit was revealed to me. I could "see" as it were the divine spark that is present in every human being. It was like I had reverence for That which is present everywhere but particularly was aware of Its presence in all humans, my brothers and sisters. For those of you not into using the concept Jesus or the Christ, go beyond that concept to your own understanding of Spirit or Life. Any term doesn’t get it but we have to use something for a point of reverence.

I was shown how "God"/the Divine disguises as every person I encounter. EVERY person. I could "see" that no matter how sweet or kind or how nasty or mean someone might appear to me; no matter how polished or rough; no matter what color or language; no matter what religious belief or philosophy; no matter how intelligent or ignorant; no matter what the "cover" or "costume" or disguise, I am called to Love. That is, I am called to see beyond the disguise and look only to see Spirit and to acknowledge the gift of sight to see that Divine Spark within, that very Presence. I think this must be what it means to worship – to recognize and to revere Spirit in the many forms.

Recently I was reading something about separating the chaff from the grain. I would describe my "epiphany" using those terms in a different way but similar.

With each encounter of another human being, I am to look beyond the cover (the chaff as it were), the outward appearance to the seed or grain (the Presence) Spirit within.

This is not an easy thing to describe in words. The knowing goes beyond my capacity to describe. But it is something that we can all experience in our own way.

I was not intellectually aware. It was my soul that got the message. Ask and ye shall receive. I wept with joy. So like the good kings who “revealed” the Christ child to the world, each of us must make that journey, discover the Christ ourselves, and then by doing so, reveal the Christ or the Presence or Spirit (whatever term works for you) to the world.

Make a joyful noise...