W - Wandering

What's your star? 

When it comes to wandering and Christmas, the most obvious association seems to me to be the three kings following the star of the east to Bethlehem to worship, give gifts to, and ultimately save the life of the Baby Jesus: 

... after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage." ... [Herod] sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage." When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star ... 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. Then ... they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another path.

Matthew 2:1-12

What always strikes me about the wise men is that they didn't question the star. They did nothing to create the star. They didn't argue the route the star provided for them. The simply recognised that that star was the star they needed to follow, and they followed it. 

How often in life do we ignore our stars? How often do we know, really, what calls to our innermost sense of knowing, and try to hush it up with reasons and being 'practical'? If I just look at my career, it's a winding path with a delayed start and some backwater detours, but some part of me has always known what I really needed to be doing, and it was a form of hell when I wasn't doing it. And so I sing, with Bebe and Cece Winans, 'Give me a star, just one star to light the way. And I'll never walk alone again at night.'