12 Days of Christmas or 12 Years?

 Somewhere along the way I recall hearing about a woman who lived to take her Christmas tree down on Christmas afternoon.    She was in a hurry to get Christmas over with.    I suspect that her number are legion.   There are a lot of people who are eager for Christmas to be over and done for all sorts of reason.   While many of you have already put away your Christmas decorations in storage and have exchanged those gifts that did not fit or you did not like,   I want to offer a gentle reminder that officially Christmas does not end until January 5.   That is the 12^th day of Christmas that is immortalized in the song of the same name.    Tradition has it took 12 days for the wise men to travel to Bethlehem once they saw the star in the heavens.   Obviously, travel was not as speedy in those days as it is today whether by train, plane, or automobile.  Some biblical scholars say it have have taken years for the wise men to travel from their far country to worship the Christ child.  

It occurs to me that the journey of the wise men to the Christ child is  metaphor of sorts of the journey people  make to Christ in their own lives.   While some people come to Christ when they are a child or a teenager, others do not come to Christ until they are advanced in years.   While I became a Christian when I was a teenager, not everyone does.    I think of baptizing a man named Bobby when he was 65 years of age months before he died and of baptizing Ray in the waters of an area lake when he was in his late 70’s.    I give thanks to God for Bobby, Ray, and people like that who make the journey to Christ.  While they might be more like the tortoise than the hare in that ancient fable,  I am glad I got to share in their journey.    One final word:  when the wise men arrived to worship the Christ child, they began a new journey of telling others about Christ in word and deed.   That is a journey that ends only at the grave.  Have a joy-filled week.--    Randy L. Wall

Prayer:    O God,  I give you thanks for the wise men and their journey to the Christ.   I give you thanks for my journey to Christ and for the journey that awaits me in the future for Christ.  Help to live for you and to live like you;  through Christ our Lord.   Amen.