Sitting in the kitchen, watching the birds feed outside the window on this frigid day, I’m reminded of the visit a pastor made on one of his parishioners.

The church he served was out in farm country.  Now and again he would visit the old farmer in an attempt to share the gospel with him. Each time the farmer would tell the pastor, “I believe in God. It is impossible not to when you look around at the beauty of this earth and the way in which life is created. It’s just Jesus I don’t understand. Why would a perfect and all powerful God have to come down as a man, and then die, just to make things right?” The pastor was never able to come up with an answer that the farmer found satisfactory.

Then one night, as the farmer was sitting in his living room, he heard a thump on his window. He went to see what it was and outside he saw a group of birds floundering in the snow. They were trying to get into the warmth but they couldn’t figure out how, and so they were dying in the snow. So the farmer went outside and opened his barn doors, and turned on the lights, and tried to herd the birds into the warmth of the barn, because he realized it was their only hope for salvation. But the more he tried to direct them the more they scattered. At that point the farmer thought, if only I could become one of them then I could lead them into the warmth. At that moment, he had an epiphany, and he fell to his knees and received, through faith, Christ as his Savior.

During this time of epiphany, may Jesus open the eyes of our faith to what He has done in His incarnation.  He is our Savior, with us through every joy and challenge!  But may we also have an epiphany regarding what He has made us.  We are His disciples, called not only to follow Him into the warmth of salvation but to reach out and share Him.

As Epiphany gives way to Lent with Ash Wednesday on February 26, when we will see in greater clarity what our Savior was born to fulfill for us, may we offer the sacrifice of our lives serving Him!

Keep Sharing God’s Love through Your Holy Faith!