I get epiphanies now and then, and when I do, it's a personal landmark. Sometimes I might get one or two a year. Sometimes less. Rarely more. So when one happens, I sit up and take notice. Recently I had two in one day.
I define epiphanies as those moments when a true spiritual principle, zings into my brain, the mental light bulbs flash, and something that I had never really thought about, suddenly becomes clear and logical. I learned also that my epiphany will likely not be your epiphany. If I explain it to you with all my inner gusto, you will likely respond with -- Yeah ... and? But I want to share it anyway, not for you necessarily, but to document it for myself.
I believe in the principle of spiritual gifts. These gifts come from God, and there is an endlessly long list of them. A few examples: Patience. Compassion. Belief. Discernment. Desire for knowledge. Faith. I believe that all these qualities are part of God, and our goal is to become like Him. So little by little, we strive for, and cultivate these qualities.
They are gifts because they are given freely. "Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" (Matthew 7:7) Some gifts are just naturally there, and some we need to sincerely ask for. It's that sincerity part that can trip us up. We have to truly want it and that's where the striving comes into play.
So ..... love. It too is a spiritual gift. And here's how my epiphany came about. A little less than a year ago, Husband and I were reassigned in our church to serve in a congregation of 18 to 30 year olds. We are there to provide stability, support, and some leadership. One of the gals who served as the president of the women's organization within this group, would tell us ALL THE TIME how much the Lord loves us. In my church, I've heard it more times than I can count.
Yes, yes, I'd think as I have thought a million times. I know He does. Thank you for the reminder. But watching this cute little gal, who was barely over 5 feet tall if that, shy and uncomfortable in front of people, quiet yet always smiling ..... I realized something. She KNOWS this. She KNOWS God loves us. And HOW does she know? Because SHE LOVES US.
In our church, when you are given an assignment to work with a particular group of people, you almost inevitably grow to love them, and often rather quickly. (I've always heard you grow to love those you serve, but I've often felt that didn't necessarily work for me. I mean, in all honesty, I have a hard time loving someone who has let their house dwindle into a state of horrible neglect, who then needs my help sorting and cleaning which is what they should have been doing all along ..... or needs help moving but hasn't even started gathering boxes before the trucks arrive ...... and as you see by my whining, I don't quite have the gift of compassion locked down.) But I know that whenever I have served as a teacher, I LOVE my class. I LOVE the people who actually come trusting that I will not waste their time. Many times I have felt gratitude that they allowed me to teach their class.
My point: How does that love happen? What causes it? It is a gift ..... directly from God, that seems to come with that assignment. But not just that. It is a bit of HIS love, channeled through us. HE loves these people and He wants me to tell them.
The morning after the birth of my first baby, after a long labor and all the trauma and excitement, and after I had had a chance to sleep, the nurse brought in this little bundled stranger and actually left him alone with me in all my ineptness. I remember his eyes looked very furrowed and serious, as if he was dubiously sizing up this silly 21 year old girl who was supposed to be his mother. "Do you KNOW what you're doing??" he seemed to say. As I held him I remember quite vividly, in a single moment, falling deeply in love. Here was someone I had known for a very short time, yet I suddenly felt like I would do anything to protect him. The conduit of love from God to a mother is particularly powerful, and it hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. And that was, and still is, God's love channeled .... or more like .... gushing through me.
All love comes from, and is a bit of God's love, and He has an infinite reservoir to share. My love for my family, for example, is God's love, channeled through me. Therefore, when I love someone, I KNOW God loves them. Because it's HIS love for them that I'm feeling. He loved them first and is sharing some of that love with me. That thought hit me on a Sunday morning, two weeks ago. Which segues to the obvious .... the more people we love, or in other words, the more people for whom we feel God's love, the closer we are to being like Him, who loves us all.
And to the non-believer: What better proof of a God, than the existence/reality of love?
So if you're thinking, Yeah .... and? ... it's okay. As I said, my epiphanies aren't necessarily anyone else's.
Later, in another post, I'll share the other one I had that day.
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