I have had a bad habit for most of my adult life of storing the necklaces that I wear most often in a small tray. My carelessness means that I can pick one up only to get a cluster hanging together, entangled. Either I stop and sort them out, untangling the mess with patience or impatience, or I ignore it and wear another one, only to come back later to the same problem or a broken chain. It seems to me life is rather like that too! Plain sailing for a while, working well and then along come stumbling blocks that eventually need to be tackled and untangled to move forwards again, or we find ourselves suffering from the pain of broken connections from which we need to try to recover.

Consciously or subconsciously, January seems to be the time when many of us think to tackle the perceived existing stumbling blocks of our life, perhaps making resolutions or coming to a specific decision which we will act on during the year.

After Christmas the church celebrates the glorious news of God’s son coming to earth – known as Epiphany. The season gives us chance to reflect on the significance of the birth of Jesus and to look at our journey onwards. Included at this time is the story of the Wise Men who followed a star to seek Jesus, bringing gifts signifying his future – gold for a great king; frankincense for a holy man; and myrrh for death. They journeyed in faith and with hope for the ushering in of a new era of God’s work on earth. But they had stumbling blocks to overcome – finding Jesus and encountering King Herod who wanted Jesus dead for a start! They had to find resilience to tackle the everyday reality without being put off from their overall aim. They kept going in faith. Their reward was to come into the presence of Jesus with their gifts, to experience the joy of discovering their saviour and to travel onwards to spread the good news of his arrival.

However tangled we feel things are for us this January we can follow the Wise Men’s example and travel in faith, building up our resilience by acknowledging God’s present of love and hope and remembering we do not journey alone. God is there waiting to hear us and support us now and in the future.

Happy New Year

Stephanie Goodwin

UAP Reader