Signs and Wonders

The past weeks have been full of packing and sorting. There is a mountain of change on the horizon for us this year of which the move is only part. The first of our daughters is to be married - our second oldest, Ariel. Tomorrow we travel to
Allentown to attend their engagement party. Signs and wonders are all around us and it is joyous and easy to be overwhelmed. When changes come across personal and professional landscapes, it is common to experience a sense of anxiety and anticipation of the coming events, no matter how wonderful and positive they promise to be. In new situations we all want to be liked. Never having been a mother of the bride, nor a mother-in-law, I want to do those things well. And I want to have the new relationships in this wonderful community of faith be positive and empowering for us all. Being human, we are all challenged by change. There is a swirling mixture of leaving and arriving, a heady mix of grief and joy.

"When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Luke 21:28

I am encouraged by these words of Jesus. Sometimes I forget to look up. Sometimes, with all the tasks and schedules swirling about, I can forget that God is in our midst and our redemption is near. It is normal to want to bury one's head in the sand. And yet, it is just these times which Jesus calls the sign of our redemption,
the coming of the Savior in a new may in our lives. So today, I want to stand up and lift my head, looking beyond the mess and the anxiety of the present to God's promise on the near horizon. Today, I want to stand and see love coming my way. May we all stand and rejoice in the love which is at hand, the love which makes all things new and brings us from dark valleys into the banquet halls. May we rejoice in the midst of clamor and pain for the God of love is at hand.