On the Twelfth Day

It was tempting to talk about Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, but I've already gotten hung up on how to spell that word 'twelfth'. Where the heck did that 'f' come from anyway?

Shakespeare wasn't into the church calendar so much unless he could pull from it a diamond that he could polish into a good story. And besides I'm thinking today-this last day of Christmas-about traveling since my 2012 is already filling up with lots of journeys. So far my year is scheduled with trips to Georgia for my 20 year college reunion, Tennessee and Pennsylvania for a national conference and its training, Ohio for the Lori Foster Get-together, and Indiana for continuing education. There's also a wedding in September and a weekend retreat with my husband that I probably need to remind him about. That's a lot of miles for 2012.

And so I'm thinking about those miles and travel. Journey is a powerful tool for tale-telling. Some of the best stories are journey stories because in the journey the hero or heroine discover who they are as well. I wonder about the truth of the Magi and what they may have discovered on their journey as they traveled to a town to pay homage to an infant king. What obstacles did they encounter other than a crazed ruler who tried to trick them into revealing the location of the baby? Did all of them have the same dream not to go back to Herod? Did they ever fight about where they were going to stay for the night on their trip or what toppings to have on their pizza?

Oh, wait. I'm skipping ahead of myself, aren't I? This is the Twelfth Day. The day that the song celebrates 12 drummers. In my mental meandering the pipers and drummers are leading the troops into battle. The pipes can be heard for miles. The mallets beat on sheepskin and echo throughout the hills.

This is not a surprise attack.

The forces are confident in their numbers and training. Adrenaline and blood pump through their bodies as they anticipate the fighting.

They are ready for battle.

In 2012 something big is going to happen. And don't even think Mayan calendar, or I will so get on my soap box and rant. Quit fooling with the end of the world as if YOU could do anything about preventing it.

This is God's realm. That's a given.

But this is YOUR day. This is YOUR journey.

So, I leave you with two questions:

Are you ready?

And what are you fighting for?