Following the Star

One night last week, as dusk was turning into darkness, my husband, sons, and I took our binoculars and went outside to look for the Christmas Star. We found the right spot, just above our neighbors’ roof. There we saw two little lights shining in the darkening sky.

A star, a star, shining in the night.

Of course, what we saw wasn’t actually a star. It was the positioning of Jupiter and Saturn near each other in the sky. Looking up at them, I thought of how the Three Wise Men found meaning and direction in a star they saw in the sky. The star they spotted in the East led them to a manger in a stable in Bethlehem. There they found the Messiah, the king, the Son of God, the Savior of the World.

The “star” we saw didn’t lead us to the manger. It simply added a little more beauty and excitement to our stay-at-home pandemic life. But I was grateful for it and for all the ways God has brought beauty and joy to this season. I’ve found myself noticing stars everywhere. They’re in our Christmas decorations, in the cookies we made to leave on friends’ porches, and even as the noodles in a bowl of soup. Every night as I turn off the lights, I stop to turn off the star that lights the top of our tree.

Stars, it seems, are everywhere this Christmas. They bring a special kind of light.

We all seek stars—and signs. Especially at times of darkness and confusion, we long for direction. We seek the assurance we are heading the right way and that something good, something better, something brighter, lies ahead. We are eager for a new year, hoping that 2021 will bring a time when we are free of this pandemic. We want to leave behind our daily anxieties and find ways to be with people in person again. We hold onto the faith that will happen in 2021.

And we know Jesus will be with us through whatever lies ahead.

We don’t need a star to guide us to Jesus. But I like to think of how God leaves little invitations to draw us closer to Him everywhere we turn. We just need to recognize Jesus in our everyday experiences. He is in the eyes of those around us—whether in real life or over Zoom or FaceTime. He is in the simple kindnesses and acts of love we experience every day. He is in the quiet beauty of a snow flurry on a brisk winter day, in the chaos of a present-filled Christmas morning, and in the peace of a quiet evening by the colored lights of a tree.

Jesus is present at our moments of greatest sadness and loneliness and at our moments of greatest happiness and joy. He is with us all places and all times. And I like to remember that even in those times when we fail to seek Him ourselves, He continues to seek each of us, with a deep and life-giving love.

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