Letter from the President December 2021

“We All Have A Story”

Dear Reader,

I have breakfast every Thursday morning with a friend, and recently he sat down and said he wanted to share an epiphany moment. After high school, my friend began working in a factory, and an altercation with a co-worker caused him to say, “I believe it is time to attend college.” It was a wake-up moment that changed his life.

We all have epiphany moments and celebrate stories of faith from those experiences -- Hanukkah, Eid al-Adha, Diwali, Christmas, Paryushan, Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Epiphany. Every culture and people have their own story.

As my friend spoke that day, I realized we all have an epiphany story, a moment that changed everything in our life. They occur when we least expect them. Nor can we make them happen. Yet, they happen precisely at the right moment.

An epiphany moment is memorable because it has touched us at the very core of our being. So often, there is deep emotion with the shedding of tears or an expression of thanks to the heavens. We never forget an epiphany moment. Never. It is our story.

I hesitate to imagine a world without epiphanies. There would be no such celebrations, no stories of transformation, how we turned around and became a new person, or how we experienced the divine afresh and alive in our own lives. How we experienced love.

For many of us, the holiday season is a time to recall these stories, celebrate them in our homes, church, synagogue, mosque, or temple. There we will hear, sing the story, and express our gratitude and joy. Just as we did when we were a child, sitting beside our mom and dad, grandmother, and grandfather. The story was told yet again.

I trust this holiday season and throughout the coming new year, we will retell the stories that have held us together as a people over the centuries. Stories of our corporate epiphany moments. Share them. Love them. Celebrate them. And, be ready expectantly for the next epiphany moment, a gift of grace.

John K. Graham
President and CEO – Institute for Spirituality and Health