You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Our world is in the midst of a protracted refugee crisis, with some 122.6 million forcibly displaced persons as of mid-2024, nearly 40 million of them refugees. The U.S. continues to see refugees on our southern border, and to contend with violence against immigrants. Jesus’ call to welcome the stranger is hotly debated, even among those who claim to follow him.
Spiritually speaking, we are all refugees, people who have been welcomed into what Jesus called the Kingdom of God, a realm wholly separate from the realm of this world but accessible from anywhere. And the rite by which our welcome is sealed is baptism. In baptism, we are given a passport and all the rights of citizenship – insight, hope, and power beyond comprehension. There are no second-class citizens or resident aliens in the Realm of God. All have equal rights and equal status – and equal responsibility.
The reason that we, our holiness imperfect at best, can be welcomed into the Realm of God where holiness reigns, is that Jesus brought his perfect holiness into the realm of this world. In that sense, he too was a refugee from another place, needing to acquire the language and customs of an alien land. His baptism in the Jordan River was a sign of his taking on this world, submerging himself in human reality, including the reality of death.
And, as we know from the story the Gospels tell, Jesus was welcomed about as warmly as many refugees are in today’s world. The clash of values, and the discomfort both his poverty and his power caused, led ultimately to his death. Yet in that death and his rising again he opened the way for us to be welcomed into God-Life.
How does it challenge you spiritually to think of yourself as a refugee welcomed into the Realm of God? What new customs and language and ways of relating to others do you need to learn in order to thrive in this land? What support groups might you join to ease your assimilation into this Life? And how might you help others assimilate?
As we explore the gifts of baptism this week, let’s remember our dual citizenship and seek to become ever more comfortable in that land where there is no death. And let’s reach out our hands to offer Life to those seeking to join us.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
1-7-25 - Forgiven
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Most Christian traditions agree that baptism confers some measure of forgiveness, a washing away of sin. They argue about just how much sin is forgiven, and how completely. Are sins we have yet to commit washed away in baptism, or only those already laid to our account? Is it only "actualized" sin, or the proclivity to sin itself which is cleansed? And if the cleansing is both is retroactive and anticipatory, why bother baptizing babies who have barely had a chance to get busy sinning? Some even ask, why the focus on sin at all? Isn’t baptism just a happy occasion for God’s grace to flood us?
Yes, yes, and yes. Whether or not we use the word “sin,” most would agree that human beings are wired to benefit ourselves, and this ingrained self-orientation often leads to words and actions that adversely affect others and our connection with God. That's what we call sin. Yes, we’re capable for pushing past this wiring to be other-directed, but I don’t believe there is a person in the world for whom that is the default position. Oh wait, maybe there was one…
It is this basic orientation toward self for which we receive forgiveness in baptism. And so this sacrament, made holy by virtue of Jesus’ baptism, confers on us ultimate forgiveness, deservedly or not. Baptism is the source of our identity as forgiven sinner/saints. And as we understand, believe, appropriate and incorporate our identity as already forgiven, we are better able to push past our natural motivation toward self. The saint in us gradually overwhelms the sinner.
All that in a few drops of water? Yes! That’s the beauty of sacraments – it’s not the signs and symbols that do the work, but the Holy Spirit, invited and active in the gathered community, who effects eternal changes in this temporal realm. How differently might we behave if we felt eternally forgiven in the very midst of our messy, often self-seeking lives? How much freer we would be if we wore ID bracelets that read, “Forgiven!”
Maybe we should try that… or at least remind each other more often. So here I am reminding you. You are forgiven. Forever.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Most Christian traditions agree that baptism confers some measure of forgiveness, a washing away of sin. They argue about just how much sin is forgiven, and how completely. Are sins we have yet to commit washed away in baptism, or only those already laid to our account? Is it only "actualized" sin, or the proclivity to sin itself which is cleansed? And if the cleansing is both is retroactive and anticipatory, why bother baptizing babies who have barely had a chance to get busy sinning? Some even ask, why the focus on sin at all? Isn’t baptism just a happy occasion for God’s grace to flood us?
Yes, yes, and yes. Whether or not we use the word “sin,” most would agree that human beings are wired to benefit ourselves, and this ingrained self-orientation often leads to words and actions that adversely affect others and our connection with God. That's what we call sin. Yes, we’re capable for pushing past this wiring to be other-directed, but I don’t believe there is a person in the world for whom that is the default position. Oh wait, maybe there was one…
It is this basic orientation toward self for which we receive forgiveness in baptism. And so this sacrament, made holy by virtue of Jesus’ baptism, confers on us ultimate forgiveness, deservedly or not. Baptism is the source of our identity as forgiven sinner/saints. And as we understand, believe, appropriate and incorporate our identity as already forgiven, we are better able to push past our natural motivation toward self. The saint in us gradually overwhelms the sinner.
All that in a few drops of water? Yes! That’s the beauty of sacraments – it’s not the signs and symbols that do the work, but the Holy Spirit, invited and active in the gathered community, who effects eternal changes in this temporal realm. How differently might we behave if we felt eternally forgiven in the very midst of our messy, often self-seeking lives? How much freer we would be if we wore ID bracelets that read, “Forgiven!”
Maybe we should try that… or at least remind each other more often. So here I am reminding you. You are forgiven. Forever.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
1-6-25 - Adopted
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, for centuries the occasion when the early church celebrated Jesus’ birth, until someone came up with Christmas. Epiphany celebrates all the ways that Christ’s identity was made known to the nations beyond his own Jewish people – his birth, the visitation of the magi, his first miracle at the wedding in Cana, his transfiguration on the mountaintop, and his baptism, always the gospel reading for the first Sunday in the season of Epiphany. Of all the “showings” that revealed Jesus’ Messianic identity, his baptism was among the most significant. This story's inclusion in all four gospels (though “off-screen” in John’s account…) attests to its foundational importance for the early church. Indeed, Jesus’ baptism has been seen by Christians in all generations as the font from which our rite of baptism sprang, and it has shaped our understanding of this one ritual that all Christians have in common.
Instead of exploring Sunday's gospel text this week, we will reflect on baptism itself, addressing some of the different ways the Church understands this primal rite of initiation. Let's start with the new identity we receive in baptism as we are adopted into the family of God.
Our catechism and baptismal liturgy speak of baptism as a rite of adoption. What happens when someone is adopted? They don’t lose their prior identity, but are welcomed into a new family, not as a guest or servant, but as a son or daughter with equal rights and responsibilities as other family members. Baptism confers such a complete affirmation and status upon us that it’s the exact opposite of that old expression, “Blood is thicker than water.” The waters of baptism override every other form of relationship, inviting us into a vast and eternal family in which the most recent addition is as valued and precious as the eldest.
Our families of origin are wonderful and terrible and everything in between. Our spiritual family is meant to be a place of healing and growth. Does it help you in your spiritual walk to know that you have been adopted into a new family, made a true sister or brother with Jesus himself? What would help you remember that at times when you feel low?
On this day when we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, the showing forth of God's revelation, let’s celebrate the unseen gifts of baptism and make Christ known in the way we display his power and love. How wonderful it would be if followers of Christ went around reminding each other of our adoption as precious sons and daughters of God, treating each other as true sisters and brothers. In Christ, we are. Water is way thicker than blood!
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, for centuries the occasion when the early church celebrated Jesus’ birth, until someone came up with Christmas. Epiphany celebrates all the ways that Christ’s identity was made known to the nations beyond his own Jewish people – his birth, the visitation of the magi, his first miracle at the wedding in Cana, his transfiguration on the mountaintop, and his baptism, always the gospel reading for the first Sunday in the season of Epiphany. Of all the “showings” that revealed Jesus’ Messianic identity, his baptism was among the most significant. This story's inclusion in all four gospels (though “off-screen” in John’s account…) attests to its foundational importance for the early church. Indeed, Jesus’ baptism has been seen by Christians in all generations as the font from which our rite of baptism sprang, and it has shaped our understanding of this one ritual that all Christians have in common.
Instead of exploring Sunday's gospel text this week, we will reflect on baptism itself, addressing some of the different ways the Church understands this primal rite of initiation. Let's start with the new identity we receive in baptism as we are adopted into the family of God.
Our catechism and baptismal liturgy speak of baptism as a rite of adoption. What happens when someone is adopted? They don’t lose their prior identity, but are welcomed into a new family, not as a guest or servant, but as a son or daughter with equal rights and responsibilities as other family members. Baptism confers such a complete affirmation and status upon us that it’s the exact opposite of that old expression, “Blood is thicker than water.” The waters of baptism override every other form of relationship, inviting us into a vast and eternal family in which the most recent addition is as valued and precious as the eldest.
Our families of origin are wonderful and terrible and everything in between. Our spiritual family is meant to be a place of healing and growth. Does it help you in your spiritual walk to know that you have been adopted into a new family, made a true sister or brother with Jesus himself? What would help you remember that at times when you feel low?
On this day when we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, the showing forth of God's revelation, let’s celebrate the unseen gifts of baptism and make Christ known in the way we display his power and love. How wonderful it would be if followers of Christ went around reminding each other of our adoption as precious sons and daughters of God, treating each other as true sisters and brothers. In Christ, we are. Water is way thicker than blood!
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
1-3-25 - Getting There
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Until you’re there, you’re not. This is a truth I relearn every time I take a long journey. I want to be through the miles, onto the next leg of the route, arriving – but I can only be where I am at each moment. Until you’re there, you’re not.
The sages who had come so many miles in search of the new king whose star they’d seen rising in their night skies had reasons for wanting to get there. They had invested a great deal in this trip, trusting the stellar guidance as they read it. Maybe people at home had called theirs a fools’ errand; maybe they’d read the stars wrong. This Herod fellow certainly hadn’t known anything about a new king; he just sent them off toward Bethlehem. They didn't even know where "there" was. Until they were there, they weren’t.
But they had that star as a beacon: ...they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
Imagine what these star-followers felt when the guidance held true! Real men or mythic figures – or both – these sages were overwhelmed with joy when they were led to a simple house. And if they were surprised to find there an ordinary young family, we see no indication in their actions: On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
What a way to greet a king, even one who didn't t look like one: in a house, not a palace; attended only by his mother. Our wise travelers were unfazed. They knew they had arrived where they needed to be. They had come with three goals – they wanted to see, they wanted to honor, they wanted to gift. And when they had done what they came to do, they went home, guided by the wisdom that had brought them to Bethlehem, to be ready for the next adventure.
Maybe we can find in their goals a guide to our devotion:
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Until you’re there, you’re not. This is a truth I relearn every time I take a long journey. I want to be through the miles, onto the next leg of the route, arriving – but I can only be where I am at each moment. Until you’re there, you’re not.
The sages who had come so many miles in search of the new king whose star they’d seen rising in their night skies had reasons for wanting to get there. They had invested a great deal in this trip, trusting the stellar guidance as they read it. Maybe people at home had called theirs a fools’ errand; maybe they’d read the stars wrong. This Herod fellow certainly hadn’t known anything about a new king; he just sent them off toward Bethlehem. They didn't even know where "there" was. Until they were there, they weren’t.
But they had that star as a beacon: ...they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
Imagine what these star-followers felt when the guidance held true! Real men or mythic figures – or both – these sages were overwhelmed with joy when they were led to a simple house. And if they were surprised to find there an ordinary young family, we see no indication in their actions: On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
What a way to greet a king, even one who didn't t look like one: in a house, not a palace; attended only by his mother. Our wise travelers were unfazed. They knew they had arrived where they needed to be. They had come with three goals – they wanted to see, they wanted to honor, they wanted to gift. And when they had done what they came to do, they went home, guided by the wisdom that had brought them to Bethlehem, to be ready for the next adventure.
Maybe we can find in their goals a guide to our devotion:
- To want to see Jesus. Make that a prayer; ask the Spirit to expand your faith vision to see Jesus wherever he might be in your life this week, in prayer, in worship, in his Word, in the poor, in other people…
- To want to honor Jesus. Offer Him praises, adoration in your heart, with your voice, in your actions…
- To give him precious gifts. What is precious to you that you want to offer Jesus? Your time? Energy? Relationships? Maybe ask what he would like you to give… you might be surprised at the answer.
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
1-2-25 - Planning the Journey
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there,” the Cheshire Cat says (in somewhat different words) in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. That is an approach to life many have adopted – drift and see where you land. Others take the route of intention. Our star-gazing magi were of the latter variety.
As we start a new year and consider what intentions or goals we may want to set, destinations for which we may want to chart a course, let’s see what wisdom these wise ones might share with us, what steps we might follow to live our life in God with greater purpose.
Discern – Notice what God is up to. Those magi studied the heavens and knew when a new star arose (perhaps a supernova). They were intrigued and explored what it might mean. So we need to be awake to what snags our attention – perhaps a need around us, a passion within us, joy, pain, outrage, tenderness – where has God set a star for you?
Chart a course – How will you get where you are going? What route is best for you – fast, scenic, with or without tolls? Even when we’re not sure of our destination, like those magi, that star we’ve seen gives us a direction. If there are some things you’d like to accomplish this year, or this week, break down the steps required to get there.
Pack – What do you need for this journey? A time set aside each day? A place? A journal? A companion to travel with, someone to share insights and pitfalls as you go? Gifts to bring when you arrive?
And what might you choose to leave behind? Packing is a process of selection, after all. Distracting activities or people? Disappointments in faith? Previous attempts at spiritual discipline? Patterns that no longer serve you?
Dare - Those magi came to Bethlehem from a faraway land, risking injury, robbery, danger, losing their way. As we embark on our spiritual adventure, let us pray for some of their courage, to be open to what lies ahead, trusting God’s presence with us in challenges and victories, trusting God’s gifts that sustain us on the way, trusting God’s guidance as we move closer to God’s heart.
The term “spiritual journey” is over-used but not inaccurate. Our life in God always involves movement forward, an unsettled yearning, pilgrimage. Yet even on the journey we can be alive to the gifts we receive, like a good meal and conversation in a warm place after a day of hiking. As one of my favorite bands, Calexico, sings in Cumbia de Donde:
I'm not from here, I'm not from there.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there,” the Cheshire Cat says (in somewhat different words) in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. That is an approach to life many have adopted – drift and see where you land. Others take the route of intention. Our star-gazing magi were of the latter variety.
As we start a new year and consider what intentions or goals we may want to set, destinations for which we may want to chart a course, let’s see what wisdom these wise ones might share with us, what steps we might follow to live our life in God with greater purpose.
Discern – Notice what God is up to. Those magi studied the heavens and knew when a new star arose (perhaps a supernova). They were intrigued and explored what it might mean. So we need to be awake to what snags our attention – perhaps a need around us, a passion within us, joy, pain, outrage, tenderness – where has God set a star for you?
Chart a course – How will you get where you are going? What route is best for you – fast, scenic, with or without tolls? Even when we’re not sure of our destination, like those magi, that star we’ve seen gives us a direction. If there are some things you’d like to accomplish this year, or this week, break down the steps required to get there.
Pack – What do you need for this journey? A time set aside each day? A place? A journal? A companion to travel with, someone to share insights and pitfalls as you go? Gifts to bring when you arrive?
And what might you choose to leave behind? Packing is a process of selection, after all. Distracting activities or people? Disappointments in faith? Previous attempts at spiritual discipline? Patterns that no longer serve you?
Dare - Those magi came to Bethlehem from a faraway land, risking injury, robbery, danger, losing their way. As we embark on our spiritual adventure, let us pray for some of their courage, to be open to what lies ahead, trusting God’s presence with us in challenges and victories, trusting God’s gifts that sustain us on the way, trusting God’s guidance as we move closer to God’s heart.
The term “spiritual journey” is over-used but not inaccurate. Our life in God always involves movement forward, an unsettled yearning, pilgrimage. Yet even on the journey we can be alive to the gifts we receive, like a good meal and conversation in a warm place after a day of hiking. As one of my favorite bands, Calexico, sings in Cumbia de Donde:
I'm not from here, I'm not from there.
Where am I going? Should I care?
When will I get there? Can you even say?
When will I get there? Can you even say?
1-1-25 - Y2K
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Anyone remember New Years Eve, 1999? All the hype and fear surrounding the world’s passage into the year 2000 – you’d think we’d never entered a new millennium before. Well, of course, none of us had – nor had the world run on computer systems no one was sure would adapt to dates beginning with “2.” How many of us stocked extra water and flashlight batteries that week? And then went out and partied like it was 1999 – because, really, what else are you going to do? Things will work out, or not. Pop the corks and strike up the band.
We sure do like to know what’s going to happen next year, next day, next hour. And every once in a while something comes along to remind us how little control we really have over our circumstances. Maybe King Herod had such a moment in our story, hearing from foreign dignitaries of celestial indications that a king had been born for the Jewish people. In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired where the Messiah was to be born.
“But wait,” he might have thought, “I am the king of the Jews. Sure, I’m corrupt and despotic and completely at the mercy of my Roman overlords – but I AM the king… aren’t I?”
Herod’s unease was profound enough to infect his entire community – anxiety has a way of spreading into the systems in which we operate. And most of us, when we fear our well-being is threatened, will go into control mode: we will seek information and amass expertise and plan strategies, all to gain a sense of mastery over a situation we really can’t control. Herod gathered all the religious leaders and prophetic types and asked them to speak the unknowable, that which God had not yet revealed.
As we say goodbye to the year just past, a year of trauma and anxiety, gains and losses, achievements and challenges, death and life, what raises the most anxiety in you? What do you want to know that you cannot yet know, because the time for that has not yet come? A good New Years Day exercise might be to name those things and invite Jesus to sift them with you. Light a candle, and make a list.
And what are some changes you would embrace? How might you like to see your circumstances improved? It’s good to pray into those desires, inviting God to put flesh on your hopes and dreams as they align with God’s dreams for you.
The best prayer of all is this: What dreams is God inviting you to put flesh on today? And in this new year to come?
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Anyone remember New Years Eve, 1999? All the hype and fear surrounding the world’s passage into the year 2000 – you’d think we’d never entered a new millennium before. Well, of course, none of us had – nor had the world run on computer systems no one was sure would adapt to dates beginning with “2.” How many of us stocked extra water and flashlight batteries that week? And then went out and partied like it was 1999 – because, really, what else are you going to do? Things will work out, or not. Pop the corks and strike up the band.
We sure do like to know what’s going to happen next year, next day, next hour. And every once in a while something comes along to remind us how little control we really have over our circumstances. Maybe King Herod had such a moment in our story, hearing from foreign dignitaries of celestial indications that a king had been born for the Jewish people. In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired where the Messiah was to be born.
“But wait,” he might have thought, “I am the king of the Jews. Sure, I’m corrupt and despotic and completely at the mercy of my Roman overlords – but I AM the king… aren’t I?”
Herod’s unease was profound enough to infect his entire community – anxiety has a way of spreading into the systems in which we operate. And most of us, when we fear our well-being is threatened, will go into control mode: we will seek information and amass expertise and plan strategies, all to gain a sense of mastery over a situation we really can’t control. Herod gathered all the religious leaders and prophetic types and asked them to speak the unknowable, that which God had not yet revealed.
As we say goodbye to the year just past, a year of trauma and anxiety, gains and losses, achievements and challenges, death and life, what raises the most anxiety in you? What do you want to know that you cannot yet know, because the time for that has not yet come? A good New Years Day exercise might be to name those things and invite Jesus to sift them with you. Light a candle, and make a list.
And what are some changes you would embrace? How might you like to see your circumstances improved? It’s good to pray into those desires, inviting God to put flesh on your hopes and dreams as they align with God’s dreams for you.
The best prayer of all is this: What dreams is God inviting you to put flesh on today? And in this new year to come?
© Kate Heichler, 2025. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
12-31-24 - On the Threshold of Grace
You can listen to this reflection here. Sunday's gospel reading is here.
Here we are - for a moment. The wheels of time are about to spin us into a new year. A new journey unfolds, new destinations, new challenges, new blessings. As we rest on this threshold, we might adopt the outlook of those magi who traveled so far to see this king their study of the stars indicated had been born:
Here we are - for a moment. The wheels of time are about to spin us into a new year. A new journey unfolds, new destinations, new challenges, new blessings. As we rest on this threshold, we might adopt the outlook of those magi who traveled so far to see this king their study of the stars indicated had been born:
When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.
Like the magi, we’ve heard of Jesus. We’ve even met him. But we don’t begin to know him. So this year let’s follow whatever stars we discern can lead us to a deeper acquaintance, even intimacy, with him. What might that look like in your life?
And when we arrive at those moments of connection and knowing, let’s allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with joy.
And let’s frequently enter the house where we know him to hang out, and offer our devotion, kneeling because that’s what you do when you’re overcome with gratitude and awe.
And let’s open our hearts and wallets, giving fully of ourselves to this One who’s given everything for us.
And when we return to our ordinary lives – for these moments of grace-filled connection don’t last forever; our lives are a string that connects these pearls into a beautiful strand – let’s go back by another route. Not because we are afraid, but because God is always leading us forward into new gifts, new blessings, new landscapes and vistas, new uses for our gifts, and new companions on the way. Where will the road lead you this year?
Wishing you every blessing as the New Year unwraps its gifts for you!
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
Like the magi, we’ve heard of Jesus. We’ve even met him. But we don’t begin to know him. So this year let’s follow whatever stars we discern can lead us to a deeper acquaintance, even intimacy, with him. What might that look like in your life?
And when we arrive at those moments of connection and knowing, let’s allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with joy.
And let’s frequently enter the house where we know him to hang out, and offer our devotion, kneeling because that’s what you do when you’re overcome with gratitude and awe.
And let’s open our hearts and wallets, giving fully of ourselves to this One who’s given everything for us.
And when we return to our ordinary lives – for these moments of grace-filled connection don’t last forever; our lives are a string that connects these pearls into a beautiful strand – let’s go back by another route. Not because we are afraid, but because God is always leading us forward into new gifts, new blessings, new landscapes and vistas, new uses for our gifts, and new companions on the way. Where will the road lead you this year?
Wishing you every blessing as the New Year unwraps its gifts for you!
© Kate Heichler, 2024. To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Here are the bible readings for next Sunday. Water Daily is also a podcast – subscribe to it here on Apple, Spotify or your favorite podcast platform.
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