"They set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising,until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage."
Matthew 2:9-11
In my office each December I proudly display my rubber duck nativity set, complete with rubber duck cows, sheep, shepherd, Mary, Joseph, and even a baby Jesus rubber duck. This year my 5 year old daughter, Sylvia, helped me set it up. To our dismay we realized that baby Jesus was missing. We didn't have a lot of extra time at the moment to look for the Jesus duck so I told Sylvia I'd look for him the next day when I got to work.
A week or so went by and I completely forgot about our missing Jesus duck. One morning Sylvia was in my office before preschool and she looked at my still Jesus-less nativity and said to me, "Mom, have you found Jesus yet?" I replied, "No, I've been too busy to look."
Right there, in the midst of the early morning hustle and bustle, that comment made me stop in my tracks. Now I know we were only talking about a very literal Jesus rubber duck, but that question caused me to pause that morning and to reflect on our advent season.
At this point Christmas has come and gone and we have a good start into January. How many times do we hit the New Year and feel like we missed something? Like we did all that Christmas preparation and yet we failed to find Jesus. How often do we feel like we were so busy with the Christmas season that we didn't have the time to stop and look for the Christ child? Well today I bring you good news of great joy- just because Christmas is over doesn't mean we stop seeking Jesus. Think of the magi. I know most of our nativity sets feature the magi at the manger the night of Jesus' birth, but in reality, it took them about a year to follow the star to Jesus.
It wasn't too late for the magi and it's not too late for us. If you're one of the many, like me, who were "too busy to look" for Jesus this Christmas, now is your time. Life seems to slow down some in these cold winter months and I want to encourage you to seek Jesus. Maybe sign up for one of the J-term classes being offered here at FoC or set a goal to attend worship each Sunday this winter or start a daily devotional practice. One of the ways I'm going to seek Jesus is through a new Bible Journaling kit I received as a Christmas gift. No matter the season, Jesus is here for us to find.
And sometimes you find Jesus in the most obvious places, like the bathtub toy bin at your house...
- Lindsey
