In my part of the country, Christmas is the very darkest time of the year. By four in the afternoon our light is nearly gone! That's why the Christmas lights that merrily decorate homes and trees in our neighborhood are so special to me. With each little light glowing warmly from house to house, one can almost forget the blackness even on the darkest and coldest night.

One year a few weeks before Christmas I looked out my front window and saw the most brilliant and perfect Christmas star shining from my neighbor's house. When my daughter told our neighbor how much we enjoyed that star, our neighbor told her that her husband had made it by soldering coat hangers together and carefully taping on more than two hundred tiny lights. That made us appreciate the star even more.

The following day our doorbell rang, and there was our neighbor with a beautiful star-form for us! All it needed was the lights. We were thrilled and couldn't wait to get our star shining, too.

But when we got our lights and started adding them to the star-form, we found this to be harder than we ever imagined. And, when we finally got them wrapped around and around, we found that several strings of lights had burned out, leaving more than one star-point dark. A star with no light or only partly lighted is the same as no star at all.

After walking past that darkened star for several days we began to learn a lesson about Christmas and the importance of Christmas light and love. For several days my children had been very busy thinking about how many gifts they would be getting, debating about when to open their gifts, and arguing more than usual. We talked about our Christmas star and how useless it was without any light. Then we could see that a Christmas with all the most wonderful presents and carefully planned activities and get-togethers, but without love, joy, and giving, could leave one feeling sad and disappointed. If we first listened to God, or Love, and then obeyed in our words, thoughts, and deeds, it would be like adding light to our Christmas star.

You know the Bible tells how the wise men followed a special Christmas star many years ago to where the baby Jesus was. Now, that star was in the sky for all to see and follow, but the Bible tells of only a few shepherds and wise men who actually arrived at the manger. Why? Why weren't there big crowds, big long lines of people heading to where baby Jesus was—lines like you see at shopping malls or heading to big sports events?

Something very important was required of those who were guided to the manger. They had to be ready for a special message or signal. The shepherds were in a quiet field far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, carefully guarding their sheep. They stayed awake when most people were asleep. And being wise, the wise men spent their time searching for better ideas. Both groups had to be so very humble and obedient that they could leave everything. They were led to a new baby. It was the baby Jesus, who would grow up to show the world what God's promises really mean, and how God's love can heal anything. The shepherds and wise men didn't know everything that would happen in the future, but they could feel that something wonderful was changing the world, and they wanted to honor it and understand it.

Now, when we celebrate Christmas today, we can't go to the manger like the wise men or the shepherds to find that new baby, Jesus. But everything that Christ Jesus taught us about God, the love that he lived and the healing he showed us how to do, is always here. Every time we listen quietly for God's thoughts or anytime we love unselfishly or pray, we are seeing the star and following it to the Christ, or Truth, Jesus lived. We are being wise and alert. We don't need to save that just for a certain day called Christmas. It can happen every day, if we want it to.

In Science and Health Mrs. Eddy says: "Christ expresses God's spiritual, eternal nature," and we can find Christ, this true nature of God, by being willing to leave old ways of thinking (like arguing, selfishness, and present counting), just as the shepherds and wise men left their sheep and homes to find something more wonderful than any material present—the gift of God's love for us and everyone. This is the most important part of Christmas, because it makes everything in our lives better. We get to see God's warm love for us and see ourselves as God's very precious child: spiritual, beautiful, and pure. We will feel the brightness of the Christ, Truth, that tells us God is right with us, always.

As we live that Truth we will shine like a Christmas star for all to see. Our unselfishness and love will help other people, so their lives won't be dark or sad. Then we will be doing just what the grown-up Christ Jesus told all his followers to do. He said: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." As we all shine, just imagine the light we'll make together!

P.S. We finally did get our star shining in our window, and we had a wonderful Christmas!

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
The angels, bending near the earth,
Their wondrous story told
Of peace on earth, good will to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King;
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

From Hymn No. 158, Christian Science Hymnal