Happy Three Kings Day
*Warning-some myths may be exposed in the reading!
“…and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:9-11, NIV)
My family has always celebrated Three Kings Day. It is the closing out of the holiday season and represents the day that the three wise men, magi or kings visited Jesus. As a symbol of the gifts they brought, our family always celebrated with the largest or biggest gift. The night before, we would put out grass or hay and water for the camels. When we were small, we would put it in a shoebox in our apartment and place it beside our beds. Similar to Christmas Eve, we would wait in anticipation for their arrival and bringing of their gift. When Rob and I married, we combined many of the traditions from our families. We now open stockings on Christmas Eve (his family), open one gift on Christmas Day and special gifts from family, and we open one big gift on Three Kings Day. Our new add for our family is that from Christmas Day all the way to Three Kings Day, we open one gift daily. Some years we have shared favorite memories of each other, other times we share favorite books or movies, and two years ago, we read a chapter from my Mother in Law’s memory book to honor her passing. I love that our family continues to have these traditions live on and how we continue to create new memories.
I think one of my favorite memories was when the twins were much younger and they, like I had as a child, set out grass and water for the camels on the front porch. After we tucked them into bed, Rob went to work. He proceeded to stomp around the front yard to make camel prints. Next thing I knew, he was spreading glitter in the grass (sparkles from the jewels they carried), and he made sure to “consume” the water and hay. When the girls woke up, they ran out the door to find the water and hay. They were so excited to see that they had visitors in the night. They were even more excited when they opened their gifts.
I think of our Christmas and Three Kings Day traditions and how it brings us all back to the stories found in the Bible. I know some get frustrated with the commercialization of the holiday season, but this is what I see. I see families come together. I see people attend church for their seasonal Christmas Eve Service. I hear Christmas music saturate radio waves, stores and everywhere you go and many of the songs about our Lord and Savior. I see strangers greeting strangers. I see gifts being gathered for those that may not be able to provide for themselves. I see the goodness in humanity. I see, in these special moments, what Jesus taught us while on this earth. We are all God’s children, let us rejoice and be glad. As we close out this holiday, I want to keep seeing and focusing on the goodness in humanity. When it starts to cloud with the chaos and harsh realities of life, I am going to go back to those small moments. Maybe I open a door for someone. Maybe I check in on someone that was on my mind just to say hi. Maybe, I can be the reason, at least in that moment, that someone brings a smile to their face and remembers that we are all loved and we have much to rejoice.
Today, I pray that the joy of the holiday season not be lost. I pray that you continue, in your little ways, to touch the lives of others and remind them of those biblical stories. I pray that through your actions and mine, we can all “see” that God is with us today, just as He was when the gifts were brought to Jesus. Happy Three Kings Day.
