We have celebrated this short Advent and Christmas Season. We conclude with the Epiphany of the Lord on January 7, followed by the Baptism of the Lord on January 8. So many thoughts cross our minds as we rush through these days. Perhaps we need to reflect, as does one of my favorite writers, Henri Nouwen, that this is a time of new beginnings. He says, “We must learn to live each day, each hour, yes, each minute as a new beginning, as a unique opportunity to make everything new. Imagine that we could live each day full of promises. Imagine that we could walk through the New Year always listening to the voice saying to us: ‘I have a gift for you and can’t wait for you to see it.’”

We might want to make resolutions for the New Year, we might want to change our lives, but maybe we are missing the point. Maybe we just need to focus on the present moment and call it a new beginning when God will continually reveal to us his great goodness. If our past year has brought us sorrow or anxiety, we can let go and begin again. We can give thanks to God for the gift of life. We can develop a sense of gratitude.

Perhaps the celebration of the Feast of Epiphany helps us as we become seekers like the Wise Men. It is through Jesus Christ that we know that a new beginning has come. The kingdom of God is revealed through a small baby. With each moment we have a new beginning. The gift of God to us is this new beginning. We give God thanks.

– Helen Ackermann