A Path that Leads to Christmas - Follow the Star
The Unreality of Social Media and Airbrushing our Lives
The beautiful young woman's strained voice revealed the deep pain she was trying to minimize. Her mother died when she was very young, her father remarried and the step-mother fit the Cinderella stereotype. She was losing her battle to stay focused on the good things in her life, longing instead to experience the same Hallmark Christmas family celebrations she saw on her friends' social media accounts. I encouraged her to remember that Facebook could also be called Fakebook at times. She agreed and said she was taking a break from all social media, believing the beautiful depictions of perfect, whole families fed her longing for her own childhood memories of Christmases with her mother and father. My dear sweet friend is not alone.
Christmas can be challenging for imperfect people, because everything around tempts us to play that comparison game that always leads us to loneliness, self-imposed guilt and impossible expectations.
Especially in our culture, through social media such as Facebook and Instagram and Pinterest, you’re the only teenager who doesn’t have a pimple on her nose, the only one with dull, out of control hair, crooked teeth, teeth that aren’t as white as the driven snow, the only one not included in a get together, the only one whose BFF is now someone else’s BFF.
Or you’re the woman who doesn’t have a husband, not just a husband, but an adoring husband who brings you flowers and takes you on romantic dates and buys you the perfect gift. You're the only one whose house isn't decorated inside and out, whose father shows up drunk at the family Christmas party, the one whose children melt down at every special event. You’re the only mother with imperfect children, the only daughter whose family is broken, who is grieving; whose shattered dreams will never be healed, whose house doesn’t look like a Martha Stewart showcase, the Grammy who isn’t doing enough with her grandkids, the mom whose children are rebellious and have melt downs in the mall…
It’s hard to remember the pictures that don’t make it onto Facebook. If we had FB 35 years ago I would have posted a picture of my two angel toddler sons, Daniel and Mark, grinning happily in their car seats, anticipating a fun trip to the Mall with just Mommy.
I would not post the picture of me struggling to put my two whining little boys into their double stroller, me saying through gritted teeth, “You’re ruining this special time, this is the only time I have to give you between now and Christmas" or a selfie of me leaving the mall five minutes later because I’ve just realized that unbeknownst to me, those sweet angelic boys had consumed a whole string of candy canes on the ride to the mall, and were now having a sugar high or low or allergic reaction to red dye. Who knew which? All I knew was they were miserable!
Or rewind a few more years and I would have posted pictures of our church family joining us for our traditional Christmas Eve open house, but not the picture of our two older children, Heidi and Chuck sitting on chairs all day because they were fighting and I had to get everything ready for a special night….No, we live in a pretend culture that whispers we’re not good enough, we’re never doing enough, we are letting people down, and maybe most of all, we’re letting down our God because we are so flawed.
The culture demands that to fit in, we must air brush our lives into perfection but the command is impossible to obey.
We grown ups should be able to deal with all of this junk, but I guarantee you, most of us struggle. We are not alone in those feelings and we are not the first generation to experience such inadequacies.
Speaking of Melt Downs – The Wise Men’s Journey
Speaking of melt downs, I have a feeling that the wise men who followed the star to Bethlehem had a few of those melt down moments along their hard, arduous journey, traveling by camel to find the one who had been born King of the Jews.
Their story is in Matthew 2:1 – 12
The Magi were not God-fearers, they were Gentiles, non-Jews, astronomers or astrologers, possibly made up of representatives from several countries.
They came from the East, possibly Persia, what is now modern day Iran and Iraq.
If they were astrologers than they most likely worshiped the stars.
They were known as Kingmakers.
God Used the Stars
The Magi’s journey started because they were paying attention, they took action and they refused to allow distractions to stop them – even the threat of a murderous King.
The wise men thought that they initiated this search for the King, but God was the initiator and drew them to Jesus by using something with which they were familiar, the study of the stars.
This new star confronted them with a choice – they could continue to talk about the star, study the star and philosophize about the star or they could leave the comfort of their homes, their comfort zones, and choose to pay a high price of travel and time, and accept the invitation to follow that star so that they could worship this newborn king.
Their journey and endurance challenges me. What is there in my life that is a invitation to journey toward the Star. How about you? A new opportunity? A financial windfall? A lost job? A difficult neighbor? Broken friendships? Fear? A disappointing diagnosis? A wayward child?Financial loss? Jealousy? Too many bills? Anger? A new life chapter? The wisemen would not rest, even when they lost sight of the star. They would not rest until they had a personal audience with this new born King. They were not just curiosity seekers, they were determined to worship this King and honor him with gifts.
They would not rest until they found Him.
Follow the Star - Who Me?
I know Jesus. I even teach others about Him. I know I will never get to the bottom of His love. But how much more can I KNOW Him and what price am I willing to pay to worship the King? A new star entered the world of the wisemen astrologers and got their attention. What is there in my life that calls for my attention, inviting me to a new experience of His love, a new level of obedience, to forgive, or to rejoice in the day He has created for me, even though that day holds pain and disappointment.
I think of my young friend, struggling to balance her grief over the loss of her "Hallmark Christmas" with gratitude for the "replacement" family God has given to her. She has taken on the battle in the middle of her depression, to follow the star that is Jesus, the Light of the World, who is calling her to walk by obedience, to move against her emotions in order to meet the tasks of the day. Is He directing you and me in a similar way - to serve Him in a way that will be costly, self-sacrificing, to choose against our emotions, to follow Him. Can we see that the journey to the manger, to the Light of the World might be long and hard, but by faith trust that His ways are also the pathway to joy? Can we also see that every Christmas is a new opportunity to travel that pathway with renewed love and endurance?
The alternative is to be content to rest on our laurels, to be satisfied with what we know, to miss the invitation of our circumstances and interests to "follow the Star" in a way that leads to intimacy, a deeper awareness of His presence and love, and a new, joyful recognition that the real Star of Bethlehem is the Light that enters the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.
Listen, God meets us where we are.
He used the stars to draw the wise men to Jesus.
Could it be the very thing that you love, or that breaks your heart or makes you feel inadequate, will be the conduit of His grace? The very thing that draws you to the manger, to the Christ child?
Our God is unchanging and when because of His great love for His children, He sent His only Son, Jesus, as our Messiah, He proved that He will stop at nothing to extend His unconditional love to His children. It's Christmas! Our Father, because of His love for His childrnen, will use whatever is necessary to lead us to the manger and then to the Cross, to Jesus, the Light of the World. He uses our circumstances, our fears, our interests.
Don't miss His invitation to Follow the Star.
We see three kinds of people in the story of the Wisemen. Some of them missed Christmas. Will we? Next week's post - Missing Christmas.
In His grip,
Sharon
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