For the longest time, the Transfiguration was something I simply could not wrap my spiritual arms around. It seemed too far removed from my reality, too mystical for my mundane life. But then, as is often the case with Scripture, something new came into focus: Peter and company are “overcome by sleep.” (Not the only time we see them unable to stay awake while accompanying Jesus.)
Peter wants to hunker down and build three tents. “But he did not know what he was saying,” we are told. (Again, not an isolated occurrence for Peter.) Suddenly the Transfiguration became not a spiritual event meant for someone else in some other time, but a reminder of the magnificence of God’s presence available to us every day at any moment, if only we are willing to stay awake and listen with the ear of our heart. How often are we spiritually dozing off or talking at God rather than simply basking in God’s presence?
And on those rarer occasions, when we do make a connection and feel the indwelling of the Spirit bubbling up inside us, we might, like Peter, want to stay put right where we are, longing to linger in the mystical glow rather than return to the slow slog through daily life. But we don’t get to stay on the mountaintop; we must journey back into the everyday and allow God to transform and transfigure us just as we are at any given moment.
