Epiphany

Today is the Feast of the Three Kings or Epiphany.

 

 

We also call it "Little Christmas"

 

 

 

epiph·a·ny

noun \i-ˈpi-fə-nē\

Epiphany : a Christian festival held on January 6 in honor of the coming of the three kings to the infant Jesus Christ

: a moment in which you suddenly see or understand something in a new or very clear way

 

I would like to celebrate this Epiphany with you by telling you a story of an Epiphany I had 10 years ago.  It took place a couple of weeks before Christmas.  Those of you who have been following this blog know that the Christmas season is very busy in our household consisting of one party following another.  This was the year that Frank had been diagnosed with kidney cancer and had his kidney removed in the beginning of the year.  Buddy was still a pup and Frank and I were empty nesters living alone. 

 

My Epiphany began with my coming awake in the middle of the night.  As I lay there wondering why I awoke it suddenly occurred to me that our sump pump was running non-stop.  I listened and wondered why this should be, because it was freezing cold out and there should have been no water for the sump pump to purge.  I awoke Frank and told him I thought the sump pump was jammed because it wouldn't stop running.  He rolled out of bed and went to investigate.....he was gone a long time....finally I pulled myself out of bed and went to see what was taking him.  As I walked from my bedroom to my kitchen I could hear it....it sounded like a waterfall coming from our basement.  I walked down the stairs and I saw water was to the bottom step of the stairs.  The entire basement was covered with water.  We were having my brother Dick, his wife, Jackie and their daughter and her family over for dinner that evening and the choir party was scheduled for the next evening.  I started to panic, tears formed in my eyes when suddenly I had my Epiphany.

 

• This, I realized, was not a tragedy.
• This, I realized, was just a mere inconvenience.  A minor little glitch.
• What I did realize was that a tragedy would have been if my husband hadn't beat the cancer and been lying next to me for me to nudge awake. 
• I stopped at that moment and saw with great clarity the difference between a tragedy and a minor inconvenience.
• I praised God for my husband who by now was coming out of the utility room having turned off the water. 
• I praised God that it was just a leak at our bar sink and that the basement was flooded with cold, clean water.
• I praised God that we called an emergency service that came out at 3 in the morning, cleared all the water, set up fans to dry the basement out, handled everything with our insurance company and it did not cost us a thing.  (I still use that same gentleman for all my carpet cleaning services to this day).
• I praised God that I live in a large enough house that we could set up a table in the living room and still host dinner that evening. 
• And I praised God that our choir friends were very happy to join with us in a damp basement, with gigantic fans blowing while we celebrated the Lord's birth.
• But mostly I praised God for allowing me to see and know what was important in life and to learn, as a friend of mine ( a Sgt. at work) used to say "Don't sweat the small stuff, and it is all small stuff".

 

Happy Little Christmas Everyone.  May 2014 bring you many Epiphanies.


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