Wonderings about Wise Wanderings

In December 2019, while participating in our church's Christmas on the Corner performances, I gained a new appreciation of Joseph in the Christmas story. You can read about it here.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus
Photo credit: Henry Huey Photo
hueyphoto.com, @HenryHueyPhoto

This year, while participating again in the Christmas on the Corner performances, I yearned to have a deeper experience - to try to see the story from another perspective, whether it be that of the shepherds or the wise men.

I had a hard time focusing on either of these (unless I was at the performances), until my family visited White Sands National Monument in New Mexico on December 20, 2021. That's when I took these pictures.

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Being surrounded by all the sand and the mountains, I thought about the wise men and what their journey in the Christmas story might have been like. The majority of the following poem was written as I stood atop a hill of sand, surveying our surroundings. This isn't anything deep or theological, but gave me a focus as I strive to keep Christ and His story at the center of my and my family's Christmas this year.

I wonder what it was like for the wise men

To cross hills and valleys of sand

To travel far from family and friends

And traverse a foreign land

To follow a star in the night sky

To stay on course in the day

To explain their journey to passersby

I wonder just what they would say.

And did the star disappear

Before they questioned the king?

Is that why they stopped in Jerusalem

And told him everything?

Then, when they left the palace

The star again appeared.

They hadn't lost their way

As they might have at one time feared.

And, finally, they met the child

While with his parents he sat

I wonder what Mary and Joseph felt.

Did the kings play with the child on the mat?

When they presented their gifts

Did they appear to be too much

For this boy and his simple family

How would they use the such?

Or did the gifts seem not enough?

Did the kings truly understand

That the child who played before them

Came to save and heal the land?

What was their trip home like?

Were they terrified by the dream?

What route did they choose to take

To avoid the king as he blew off steam?

What did they tell the people

When they arrived home at last?

What new paths did their lives take

After this trip had passed?

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are visited by wise men from the East,
from the First Baptist Church of Round
Rock's Christmas on the Corner, December 2021
Photo Credit: Keith Mitchell, http://www.keithmitchell.photography

No Matter What - You Matter!

I, too, was in tears at this point. Did God really talk to me on this morning and act through me to bless another person? I know He did, but why? Why me?

I have had other similar experiences, like this one:

I know these experiences to be true, but for someone who doubts their worth at times and cannot understand why anyone would care for me to realize that the one and only God, creator of the entire universe, DOES care enough to communicate with me through the Holy Spirit - I felt and still feel both honored and humbled! I know these two friends felt honored and humbled as well, knowing that God cares so much for them that He had someone out there praying for them. (Side note: I encourage you to contact people when God puts them on your heart to pray for them.)

But this is not just for me! It's for you, too! No matter how unworthy or low you feel, God cares for you!

 Taking from the points from our pastor's sermon on December 19, 2021:

        1. You are never too young or too old.

        2. You are never too experienced or too novice.

        3. You are never too educated or too uneducated.

        4. You are never too good or too messed up.

"Jacob was a cheater. Peter had a temper. David had an affair. Noah got drunk. Jonah ran from God. Paul was a murderer. Gideon was insecure. Miriam was a gossip. Martha was a worrier. Thomas was a doubter. Sarah was impatient. Elijah was moody. Moses stuttered. Abraham was old. Lazarus was dead." And God cared about all of them! He had a special purpose for each of them!

I really recommend that you listen to Pastor Dustin Slaton's full message. There is so much more that you should hear on this topic.

I also read an article published online by Dayspring on Dec. 16, 2021, and the following quotes from the article stood out to me:

"...the great and awesome God stepping into the everydays of some simple folks."

"How could we know at what point that routine aspect of our lives is actually showing up on God's holy radar...a great intersection of mundane and miraculous?"

"Clearly, He is a God who magnifies the mundane in order to accomplish His miracles."

"He is both Majesty and a God who presses into our days, our everydays. And, He whispers Life into those dusty, disgraced, and dull places - and we are never, ever the same."

Again, I recommend reading the full article from Dayspring.

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  - Matthew 10:30-31

But he himself [Elijah] went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, "It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers." And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, "Arise and eat." - 1 Kings 19:4-5  God took care of Elijah even when he wanted to give up and die.

Yahweh, our amazing God, cares enough to reach into our crazy, messy, dirty lives to show us His great love and to draw us closer to Him. I pray that is what you will seek - to draw closer to Him and to know that He loves you.

Our Compassion child matters.

Just when I thought "not even the cat likes me," this happened.
God cares even about my thoughts.

Through my work with our church's Homebound Ministry over the past eleven years, I have met many individuals who were/are still being used by God and fulfilling His purpose as long as they were/are able - telling the nurses and aides in the nursing homes about God, still preparing Bible study lessons and sermons, reaching out in love and generosity to those in younger generations - setting an example that I hope I am able to follow someday.

These special ones - young and old - matter.

No matter what, you matter!

No matter how unimportant you may feel. No matter what may be in your past. No matter what anyone else has said about you. No matter your life circumstances. God loves you, cares for you, and has a purpose for you!

Be honored and humbled.

The One who formed all the stars and galaxies in the whole universe with just His spoken words wants to have a relationship with you!

As a bonus recommendation, take a listen to "Matter" by For King and Country. 

May your Christmas be blessed as you remember the great gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit from God the Father who loves you more than the world.