Wandering Wise Men: Day 4
Today I had a brain freeze and couldn't think of what to write except for "this" is what I did and "this" is what my awesome friends did... then as I was trying to sleep, my mind was racing and I literally started to cry... let me back up. This morning as I was was scrolling through my Facebook feed and came across a Christian friends's post. (Now we are not to judge someone's salvation and since she claims to be a Christian I will give her that much of the doubt! and please read to the end, this redeems itself!) Anyways, she had posted a picture of what her Elf had been up to the night before, apparently he had drank an entire bottle of alcohol and was passed out on the shelf in his vomit. yup. That was what her seven year old daughter was going to wake up to see. What message is she trying to tell her daughter? That as long as she is "better" than the elf then she will get her gifts? That this naughty elf was really going to tattle on her to Santa? AND on top of that, the mom posted it to Facebook so that her friends, Christian and Non-Christian could see. How is that being a light unto this world? Aren't we supposed to be IN the world but not OF the world? While we are here we should do all we can to be a light to the world! Anyways, I am off on a tangent!
This morning I hid our Wise Men in the dining room (a backtrack from the play room yesterday), the guys were reading our Christmas cards... it took my kids quite a while to find them, they were so shocked that the men had not moved forward but had backtracked! My son went and immediately drew a new map of the house in hopes that the men would move forward and not get lost again. My daughter spent probably ten minutes chastising them that Jesus was ahead of them and that they had moved the wrong way! It made my heart glad to hear them talk and interact with the Wise Men, they got to have a tangible relationship with these men today as we chatted that sometimes we might feel we are going in the wrong direction but it's never too late to turn around and head back to Jesus!
I think it was a great thing my Wise Men moved backwards today, cause now I have more Grace to give to this friend of mine. Maybe right now she is moving away from Christ and needs a new "map" a voice of encouragement, or a light to follow out of the darkness! Praise the Lord that he doesn't kick us to the curb when we make mistakes!
So as you can see, my Wise Men were hanging out reading our Christmas cards. I actually made our card holder, it's a pallet I stained a dark brown, stenciled the words "Good news of great Joy" on top, then strung some string and clothespins to hold the cards. When Christ was born the angels told the Shepherds that they had "Good news of great joy". Just like our Christmas cards we send out telling people about the good news we have had this year, the joys we experienced and the joys we hope to have in the forthcoming year. So I just loved that my Wise Men were interacting with our friends who shared their joys for the season!
My sweet friend Anja had her Wise Men on a rock climbing journey! They were trudging up the banister on their path of following the star.
I wish you could see the JOY our kiddos have had each morning as they find the Wise Men and see how their journey has gone throughout the night! Ah, there is that word again, JOY. Thank you Jesus that your birth brings so much JOY to the world!! (now I am going to have that song stuck in my head!) oh well, it's a great song to have stuck... JOY to the World, the LORD HAS come!- April