How to Change Your Life

lessons from Epiphany

This week I’m thinking about Epiphany from the perspective of just one of the three Magi, those wise men (some say astrologers) who followed a star to the place where Jesus was born. As a Catholic music minister, Epiphany is not a feast I’ve enjoyed much in the past. By early January, I’m done with Christmas music and decorations and feel a strong pull toward Spring and the increasing lightness of days. But here we are in the dark, and it’s important to mark the reality of this light that does break through, the light that calls and leads us on, the light that truly changes lives.

Most of us have no wish to change our lives, not really. We humans do get comfortable or fearful or set in our ways. But when we do feel a call toward change, there will be three factors at play – the same three things that God and our one Wise Man (let’s call him ‘WM’) used to change his life and through him, the whole world.

The first are forces within us.

When WM was born, he was born into a family and a culture and his own innate talents and strengths. For sure, our guy was curious about the way the world worked, and he was open to learning. Maybe that bent toward education was a product of his culture or family status, but in time he gained wisdom about the stars and planets and natural philosophy, and he used all of that knowledge to lead and teach others. In addition, WM was accustomed to looking up.

What are the things within us, the natural curiosities or disposition of the time and place and family of our origin or upbringing that could lead us to an epiphany, to a shift that might change our whole lives? Are we, like WM, looking up?

The second category of factors are the forces around us.

WM was born into a family and a culture in a particular time and place and he was presented with the opportunity of education along with an expectation of a role within his community. In WM’s upbringing, maybe there were friends or mentors that guided him along, or mistakes he made that brought about important lessons. Some mixture of years of interactions and inputs outside of WM resulted in a man of some status who would notice a star, believe in its prominence, and choose to follow it along with his friends and colleagues.

Who are the people around us? Do they bring out the good, cause us to lift our eyes, and bravely follow where the Divine is leading us in this time? Is our community a good and nourishing soil in which we can thrive and trust enough to set out on a path toward God or take a risk without knowing where it will lead?

The last category of factors are the forces which are outside of us.

The number of things about which WM had no control is… a lot of things. The existence of the star and its meaning, its movement, the birth of the child who would change everything, the presence of the Holy Family waiting for them in a crude barn surrounded by animals. But WM used what was within him and around him to get to that place and to bear witness to a happening which would change the whole world – God becoming human. Emmanuel: God with us.

Though there was so much they could not control, WM and his friends intentionally chose what they would bring along with them: gifts meant for a king. They recognized who Jesus was and brought their best with them to do him homage.

And we, of course, can do the same. There is so much out of our control – the movement of the stars and the spinning of the Earth, religious and political players and systems which seem to be breaking down at every turn. But like the Wise Men, we can choose to use what is within us and around us to recognize and identify the Divine among us, to bring our best and to let the light lead us to where He is. When we do that, we can change our whole lives and those around us, too.

The last we hear about the Wise Men is that they were “warned in a dream not to return to Herod and that they returned to their home by another way.”¹ And I don’t know about you, but there is something about these times we’re living in, something that I perceive within and around me that is driving me to find alternate ways toward the Home that has been in me from the start. I’m listening to dreams and looking up for light to lead me. I’m seeking to be led toward experience of the Divine and working on trust to walk it out one step, one puddle of light at a time, and I’m wondering, friend, how about you?

Raised Catholic/My Little Epiphanies rewind:

This week I felt led to record a chapter of a favorite book for you: Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton, chapter 5. I put that chapter in the Raised Catholic podcast feed and I highly recommend reading the whole gorgeous book.

New Wineskins - Raised Catholic 138 - transcript with link to episode

Good News - Raised Catholic 16 - transcript with link to episode

Where to find me:

Website with links to every Raised Catholic podcast and all of my writing - kerrycampbell.org

Instagram - kerrycampbellwrites

email - mylittleepiphanies@comcast.net

What I’m reading/listening to/recommending:

Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

IG - This example of faith walking from Martel Francois and confidenceheist

Book: The Dearly Beloved, by Cara Wall

Show: In and Of Itself with Derek DelGaudio

Song: Shine a Different Way, by Patty Griffin

Prayer:

Jesus our Brother, shine in, around and on us from every place we find ourselves and from on high. Lead us by Your Light to You who is Light. Do it today, Lord, for us, our dear ones, and every community to which we belong. Thank you for how You extend Yourself to us even now. In the name of Jesus, the leading of the Spirit, and wrapped in the mantle of Our Mother Mary we pray, amen.

1. Matthew chapter 2