Meditation: Return By Another Road

Texts: Jeremiah 31:7–14 & Matthew 2:1–12

Begin by settling.

Find a comfortable position.

Breathe slowly and deeply, letting the busyness of the day fall away.

Allow yourself to become present to this moment.

Notice the road you’re on.

Think about the patterns and routines that shape your days. What feels familiar, safe, predictable? What have you been clinging to out of comfort or habit?

Recall the journey of the Magi.

They followed a star across boundaries and uncertainty. They were willing to be surprised, to encounter the sacred in unexpected places, and to let their journey change them. After meeting the Holy, they chose “another road.”

Reflect:

• Where in your life have you sensed a nudge to see differently, to risk a new perspective, or to step outside your comfort zone?

• Is there a place where you’ve felt stuck or numb, missing the sacred that’s right in front of you?

• What would it look like to “return by another road” — to allow an encounter with the sacred to reshape your next step?

Receive this invitation:

You are not alone on this journey. The sacred is not confined to special places or perfect moments — it moves in your ordinary days, your honest questions, your smallest acts of courage and kindness.

Closing prayer:

Spirit of the Living God,

Give me eyes to notice your presence in the ordinary.

Give me the courage to take a new road when I am called.

Help me to trust that every journey can lead to blessing,

And that I am never alone along the way.

Amen.