A Thrill of Hope
I walked upstairs and started picking up. I walked into the game room and noticed the Little People nativity. This is one of my favorite Christmas items. We have had it since my twelve year old was a toddler. The boys flock to it every year when we get it out of the storage tub. It doesn’t matter how old they get. They always play with that nativity set.
When I looked at the nativity, I noticed some of the characters had moved. One of the boys (I am assuming it was my youngest) had moved the wise men, the shepherds, and the animals to all face the manger. Each character was looking at Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Huh. I never thought to make them turn and look. I always had them all facing out.
Just look.
Seeing the nativity set-up this way got me to thinking about that night so long ago. Everyone stopped to look. Here was this intriguing mystery that grabbed the worlds attention. A baby born in a manger to a teenage girl fulfilling a prophecy spoken many moons ago.
It’s easy for us to keep moving when something major happens that really has no bearing on us. If it’s not in front of our face, we typically move on. But, something stopped those shepherds and wise men. Something made them look.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:1-2
They saw a star. The moment they looked, they knew a king was born and they must go. In a split second, their lives forever changed. All because they looked.
Some of us are still on the fence about this faith thing. It doesn’t really impact our daily lives, so we just keep walking. Or, it’s all so confusing and overwhelming that we look every where else thinking that’s easier. When, in reality, all we need to do is look. Look to Jesus and he will guide our steps.
God gave these men a star in the sky to lead them to their Savior: to the one who was born in order to save. They didn’t need to accomplish a check-list of things to get to him. They didn’t need to overcome their past or better themselves before they went to worship. They didn’t need Google maps. They just needed to look. In looking, they found hope.
When we stop and ponder the lyrics of “O Holy Night” we experience the power and peace that came with Christ’s arrival. The moment the shepherds and wise men looked at the North Star, they experienced the thrill of hope. When they decided to look, Jesus filled their souls with the thrill of hope.
Maybe you are waiting to experience that thrill. You’ve looked here, there, and everywhere hoping to experience a thrill that is other-wordly only to wind up empty. Or, you think you don’t deserve the thrill of hope because life has been hard. God is calling you to experience that thrill: that unending sense of hope you’ve been longing for. All you need to do is look.
Love & Blessings,
Meg
“Be joyful in hope.” Romans 12:12