Every year for the last five years my three youngest grandchildren have come to our house in December for Starry Night. The idea birthed in 2020 when the “Christmas Star” appeared. It was the first time in nearly 800 years two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, aligned. We turned it into a bit of an outdoor treasure hunt and star gazing event. Since then, it’s become a pre-Christmas fixture for us.
We equip the little boys with lights and they search outdoors for clues which ultimately lead them through a maze of games, prizes, hot chocolate, and of course the biggest treasure ends with reading Luke 2 at the foot of the Christmas tree.
“You’re looking in the wrong place!” the oldest of the three tells the younger ones.
“It’s not there,” the middle grandson’s voice shouts, “Oh…I know where it’s at!”
“Brothers,” the insistent youngest demands, “I know. I know. Last time it was at the tree.” He points a little finger highlighted by the light of his headlamp in the direction of the biggest evergreen in the back.
And three sets of little legs run. Their lights bob up and down through dried crunchy leaves. Their high pitched voices bounce off tree trunks, and they swing at low hanging branches.
But, the next clue, tied around an old tree-topper angel’s neck, is in fact in the opposite direction.
Their mom and I watch from the warmth of the kitchen window, while my son and their grandpa trudge behind them. Clouds of warm breath in the frigid air rise above the beams of their flash lights.
As they run past my window I cannot help but think how very similar all the searching and running is to our lives.
We live in a broken world. And often in our longing to set things right, we search in the wrong places. We discover along the way those things which for a short time feel like the right answer, a solution to our soul’s imbalance, only in the end we find disillusionment and unfulfilled expectations.
Relationships, careers, promotions, recognition, and need for belonging leave holes and like a treasure hunt, we search to fill them. A favorite sports team, political allegiance, or reaching personal goals, offer only temporary satisfaction.
Like little boys running helter-skelter on a cold dark night, we look in all the wrong places, only to grasp at all the wrong things.
Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12 (NKJV)
Long ago, on a dark hill outside of Bethlehem, light filled the sky. Light so bright it nearly blinded the shepherds guarding their sheep. Light so powerful they trembled with fear. And the angel gave them, on that starry night so long ago, a clue that led them to Jesus.
And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. Luke 2:12 (NKJV)
Little boys trample about in my back yard. Their feeble lights glare at each other blinding them, searching for clues to bring them to the next forage for another answer, the following test. Oh yes. How very much like me.
All throughout the ages, Scripture records one holy clue after another. The prophets promised a Savior would come. He would redeem us from our sin. He would heal our brokenness and bring His Light into our darkness. This Jesus who would come would indwell us for all eternity and satisfy the longing of our hearts.
“Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us,” the shepherds, full of amazement, said to each other. (Luke 2:15b; NKJV)
Excitement boiled over and with one accord, they hurried to Bethlehem. The Angels’ clue guided them to the Treasure. Their search complete, they gazed at the Christ Child, shepherds to The Shepherd.All throughout the ages, Scripture records one holy clue after another. Share on X
What a poignant reminder as I look up at this starry sky.
Christmas is a season which points so naturally to Jesus, and like the Shepherds our straight path to the Answer testifies truth to others still looking but not yet finding.
Jesus is the Answer to the search for meaning and fulfillment. He redeems the wanderer and satisfies the brokenhearted.
I hear the chaos of running boys outside in the cold air. While they search, a layered sky, full of depth and sprinkled with light, calls for me to be still. Against a background of little boys’ excited voices, I stop my Christmas sprint and unhinged hurry. I am led again to the quiet wonder of a long ago Starry night and straight to Jesus.
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