Epiphany

I grew up listening to a lot of music. We use to sit around an old piano and sing, "Fly Me To The Moon", "April Love", "Sentimental Journey", "Moon River",...etc; all the old beautiful standards of the 30's, 40's and 50's.... I still think they're great songs.
Then, one day, when I was in my early teens, I heard "Yesterday" by The Beatles. I had an epiphany. I had never actually seen the guy who "wrote" the song actually "sing" the song, and Paul McCartney really delivered an amazing performance of it on the Ed Sullivan Show. I didn't even like The Beatles until I heard "Yesterday".... and it changed my life. I knew from that moment on that I would never look at songs quite the same, and I wanted to be part of that "magic" of creating such a beautiful thing.. such wonderful art.
I've written songs ever since, the first one when I was 15 years old. It wasn't a very good song, but it was my baby, my creation, and I thought it was the most beautiful song in the world. Today I can't (maybe I just don't want to) remember it.

The best definition I've read, of an "Epiphany", is this one: A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, commonplace occurrence or experience.

My "experience" listening to "Yesterday" changed my life and set me forth in a direction that I never would have normally set-out on. It made me a "songwriter" for life. That was "my" art. For others it's painting, or sculpture, or photography. The possiblities are seemingly endless.
I've had four "Epiphanys" in my life. The first one I just described. The others?... The day I fell in love with my wife. I never knew that I could love another human being even more than I loved myself. It was an amazing thing. Then, when my children were born and I experienced the miracle of life... life from life, God's big fingerprint to tell us He's here with us. And God... God,... that was the fourth one. The day I realized, for the first time in my life, that the big hole in my soul was shaped like a snow-white,... Dove. (You see, ... everything is song-related)... :-)

"One the wings of a snow-white, dove... He sends His pure, sweet love.. Like a sign from above,... on the wings of a dove"..... (an old song by Ferlin Husky)... Do you think Ferlin Husky is a real name?.... hard to make up something like that.....

Anyway, that was my fourth epiphany. Realizing my need for God and asking Him to come into my life. (I thought it was just to "help" me... I didn't know it would "change" me!)....

I've heard alcoholics and addicts talk about having their epiphanys... their "a-ha" moment. That moment when a big light-bulb came on in the dark recesses of their souls and they, for the first time, came to see that they were, indeed, "powerless" over their addiction(s) and totally helpless in fighting the biggest battle of their lives. Step Number One....
I don't know how to create an "epiphany". I don't think that's even possible. It's like trying to describe what the color "blue" tastes like. If you've tasted it, then you KNOW. But if you haven't, well then... it's futile.
I wish everyone could experience an epipany. Especially those moments that change the course of a life for the better. Especially the one where God becomes something more than an Old-Testament Sunday School lesson. The one where He becomes a "person" you can know and talk to and vent your frustrations to, ....entrust your very soul to. I pray that happens for everyone who reads this. I think that's the only real answer,... to "pray" for the light, the "a-ha" moment... when the meaning becomes clear.. when the sun rises over the horizon and you say, "There it is!... THAT'S what I was looking for!"... When everything becomes "new"... for the very first time...