Star of Wonder

Have you been so busy and in a whirlwind of activity lately that you have been seeing stars?!

Well, I certainly have noticed a lot of stars everywhere I look! I was just out shopping for a few Christmas gifts and saw the large metal stars that people hang on their walls year round, tree top stars of various sorts, and star-shaped ornaments; not to mention star-shaped candles, candle holders, coasters, and dishes. And I have also been noticing the stars in people’s outdoor decorations, on the trees showing through the windows, and in the outdoor festivals of light shows.

But the most exciting stars I see are those twinkling back at me when I take a minute to look up into the sky. Gazing into the vastness of space puts everything else in its proper place. I remember what is real and what is important.

I wonder what the shepherds thought when they first saw the bright star in Bethlehem. At least they had a dramatic translation of the star’s presence and significance by the appearance of the angel chorus. Now that would have been enough to knock your socks off (or sandals, as the case may be)! But it didn’t stop there. They had to rush off to see for themselves what the real fuss was all about.

Can you imagine how it must have been to know that you were in the presence of majesty in the form of a child newly born? But not just a mortal king; they were in the presence of God come to earth as both king and child, the perfect marriage of human and divine.

The power and magnificence of who the baby Jesus was in the power of his divinity was wrapped in cloths, not even proper clothes, and laid in the humblest of places with hay tickling his back. That too was a symbol of how the exterior and appearances are so unimportant and insignificant in the grand scheme of things. The light that shone in Jesus could not be hidden by his humble beginnings, nor extinguished in the end by mere human will. And it could not even be overcome by evil.

Neither can the light that the Christ child lights in our hearts be extinguished, even by the heavy rains in the storms of life. As long as our light is drawn from the power source of God’s great love for us, others will see and recognize the light in us as the light of Christ in our hearts. It will be a beacon of hope for many. They will be drawn to us like the shepherds were drawn to the manger over two thousand years ago.

Let the symbols of stars all around you keep you closer to the Light of the world, so your own light will shine out more brightly in this dark world!