Light

 "My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning,

 more that watchmen for the morning."

The long winter is almost over.  Not that I am promising that the snow will stop and the temperatures rise to reasonable.  But in just  few days, the sun will rise exactly 12 hours before the sun sets.

The Light is back.

We have waited and waded through a long and tiresome winter to reach this point, and my joy overflows.  I can sit in my bed and watch the sun rise in the sky.  First there is but a hint that a new, light filled day is just over the horizon.  Then everything is bathed in pinks and purples.  Then the color changes to a yellow which is white which is bright and so, in some ways, no color at all.  That's what we are waiting for.  That light.

When darkness threatens our life, our family, our soul.....we watch for the light, that sign that we can breathe again.  What seems impossible in the depth of darkness gains true potential in the breaking of the first light.

We hear the story....'early in the morning, on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb...'  There the light frightened and overwhelmed them, that is, until they saw the light.  The Risen Lord Jesus is the light we all long for.....the light who marks the final end of the darkness which was the cross then and is the cross today.

Until the day when Christ's light fills every corner of this world for every moment in every day, I will take my joy in the breaking of the morning light and the breath of a new day.

Follow the star

Which star are you following?

I raise this question because the Wise Men were following a particular star.  This was the star which was to foretell the birth of a new king.  (This pre-occupation with stars has led some to call these visitors astrologers - rather than astronomers.)

This was a special, once in a career sighting of a cosmic sign.  These visitors made a commitment to follow through on this star - to follow it to its conclusion where its real meaning would be revealed. 

The only real trouble that Matthew notes around this star journey is their side trip to visit with King Herod - which almost cost them their heads and eventually cost many young boys their lives.  Apparrently asking the powers that be about the birth of a power to come is dangerous business.

The star stopped over Jesus' home, or so the story goes.  It lead them to the place they needed to be.

How about you?

Are you following a star? 

Which star is it? 

Is it a star of your own devising or a cosmic sign?

Could it be a bit of light in the dark given as a guidelight along an unfamiliar path?

Could this star be leading you to the place you need to be?

Jesus is the light in the darkness.  Are we following his star to a place of unexpected new life?  Are we headed to that place where we will become all that we can be as servants of Christ?

Which star are you following?

Follow the star

Those Wise Men - or Three Kings - or the Magi (lots of different titles because no one truly knows who or what Matthew was pointing to with his story of these visitors) arrive at Jesus' side as much as two years after the birth.  They have been following a star.

This means they had to wait until night fall each day to take up their journey.  It was only in the dark that they could confidently take up the journey again: not in the day light when they could see the bumps and curves up ahead, but in the dark with all its hidden obstacles and dangers.

 I have never thought about it this way before.  To get where they wanted to go, these Wise Men had to depend on the light provided by cosmic forces....or should we say God.  They had to trust in what they could not see or foresee.

One step at a time, in the dark, trusting in the Creator of the Universe to lead us to new life.  Applies to us today as well.