One of the most wondrous parts of the Christmas account, which we don’t talk about nearly enough, is the star. It's truly amazing because it came out of nowhere, it shone brighter than any other star, and it showed exact location of the Savior newly born. It pointed the Wiseman and the shepherds to Christ.  I actually like the star so much that I played it a couple of times in a Christmas pageant. (Really!)

I was recently at a baptism at another church and the pastor was talking about the role that parents have in pointing their children to Christ throughout all of their lives. Then he referenced Deuteronomy 6 (v.6-9) one of my favorite verses which says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” That means everything that we do in life is to be about pointing our children to Christ. And when we aren’t pointing our children to Him, we ought to be pointing others to Him.

At age three, my daughter is already pretty good at pointing me to Christ daily. We’re playing follow-the-leader and she says, “Mama, Jesus is our leader, right?!” “That’s right.” And when she goes to bed at night a little nervous about the darkness “You and Jesus will keep me safe, right?” “Yes, sweetheart.” I’m always humbled when she points me to Jesus (and often a little embarrassed, if I’m honest, that she recognizes opportunities I might have missed). But the beauty of being in relationships with one another is that the Holy Spirit can use each one of us to point the others to Christ in the ordinary. 

The star teaches us to point to Christ too. We probably never thought that we could learn something from the star of Christmas but here it is setting an example for us of what we are to do each and every day.

If you're interested in specific ideas for how to point others to Jesus as you go about your ordinary life, check out the "Along the Way" Faithful Family resources.