Believe in the Beauty of the ending enough to find beauty in the journey

​On the way to work yesterday morning, I noticed a display in a local church yard. I really couldn't make out what it was, I just knew it wasn't the typical nativity scene.

On the way home last night, in the dark, as I neared the church, I remembered the display from the morning. I pulled into a parking lot to take a closer look.

Turns out, it wasn't a nativity scene at all. It was the three wise men - or Magi - or '🎵 We Three Kings of Orient Are 🎵' - depending on how you've heard the story over the years.

They are often overlooked characters in the Christmas story. Little is written about them outside of their brief appearance in the second chapter of Matthew. What we know is, these travelers believed the words of a prophet who wrote that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, and they began following a star they believed would lead them to him.

There are historians who believe they followed that star for up to two years. On foot.

I got out of my car and walked among the characters in the scene. As I stood their taking a picture of them, I was reminded that the real lesson in the part the wise men played in the Jesus story - and in that moment in MY story - wasn't that they came bearing gifts - it wasn't their wisdom - it wasn't even how far or how long they traveled.

No, the lesson in their story - for me - was they believed if they kept going, if they kept following the star, they would find what they believed was waiting for them on the other end of their journey.

Standing there, I was reminded that, yes, Jesus is the star of the Christmas show. But sometimes we have to believe in the star enough to keep following it. Following it when life gets hard. Following it even when some nights that star is hard to pick out of a dark and cloudy sky.

Standing there, I heard God telling me that as much as I long to be standing in the middle of the nativity scene - as much as I want to be standing in that big moment when it all makes sense - that's not always - or even often - how life works.

Often, life is about believing in that moment enough to keep going. It's about believing strongly enough in a beautiful ending that you can't help but believe there is somehow beauty in following the star.

No matter how long or how far you have to follow it...

This Christmas, treasure the manger scene. Treasure it for all the beauty it offers. But don't forget the wise men. Don't forget that finding our treasures often requires us to believe in them enough to keep going.

And then keep going.