Lesson Two from the Wise Men: Look for the Good

“…the star appeared again, the same star they had seen in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time! They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcame, they kneeled and worshipped him.”

A few years ago I was in a queue at The Warehouse and I could see a little boy sitting with a security guard. My first thought was, “Oh that poor boy. I wonder if he is lost”. The woman behind me was with her children and she also noticed the little boy. She pointed him out to her children and said, “Look at that boy kids. He must have stolen something. Make sure you don’t end up like him.”

Some people naturally see the world differently.

This incident reminded me of one of the movies I grew up with; the old Disney movie with Haley Mills called Pollyanna. Pollyanna is a young girl who is always trying to find things to be glad about, even in the worst situations. Her family were very poor missionaries and her father wrote a letter to people who support them asking for a doll for Pollyanna, but there was a mix-up and instead of getting a doll they got crutches. So her father invents the Glad Game. They had to come up with a reason to be glad to have the crutches. The only reason they came up with was that even though they had them, they were glad that none of them needed to use them. Pollyanna is the ultimate optimist. (She would have been straight down to the stable to see the new King.)

One of my favourite quotes is from this movie. It is engraved on Pollyanna’s necklace and says:

"When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will."

This always comes to mind when I know I might need to deal with someone who annoys me, or who I struggle to get on with – I remind myself to stop focusing on the bad, but to look for the good and I will find it! Even on days when I’m exhausted, the house is a mess, the kids are crazy and I have a hundred things to do; I have to remind myself to look for the good in my life, stop focussing on the bad – because there is a lot of good, it is just hidden under all the toys and washing. But it is so easy to look for and then find the bad; in people, in life, and if you wanted to – even in God.

For me, Christmas is the time of year to really be thankful, but to be truly thankful you need to look for things to be thankful for.

I live in South Auckland – a place where it can be very easy to find the bad. The media has no problem doing that. But something happened to me a few years ago to remind me that there is a great heart in this place. I was heavily pregnant with baby number four and I was making my way from the supermarket with hands full of grocery bags.  While waiting at the pedestrian crossing, a man in a very flash car just drove on by – he did not see that I was waiting there. Suddenly a woman who was not crossing but just walking past at the time, who looked like a typical South Auckland tough chick yelled at him - You f**kin’ d*ck! I looked at her and she raised her chin at me as if to say – That was on your behalf – and I just thought, Wow that was so sweet!

Sometimes good does not look like what you think it should, but when you see it, it is important to acknowledge it and be thankful for it.

I often wonder what the Wise Men were expecting when they followed that star. It would have been so easy, and really understandable, for them to only see the bad and feel disappointed when they reached their destination. To see that stable, the poor family sheltered inside, that vulnerable baby. But they were far from disappointed. ‘They could not contain themselves’ and they bowed down in worship.

 

They went looking for the good. They found a poor baby in a stable, but saw a King.

I am thankful for these to lessons from the Wise Men; to get excited and to look for the good.

So in closing I want to challenge you to really embrace this Christmas and the spirit of the season. Instead of acting cool and like Christmas is for the kids and you’re just looking forward to the break that goes with Christmas – maybe set your sights a little higher.

Get rid of cynicism and get excited instead! Embrace your cheesy, hand-holding, American Christmas movie, Touched by an Angel-side, and have some high expectations of what God could do as this year comes to a close and a new year begins.

 Be like the Wise Men – don’t worry about looking like a fool.

Take a risk, have a little faith – and let yourself be taken on a journey.
Look for the good because you never know what could be in store, so why not expect something great.

Have a very Merry Christmas everyone.