A Silent Star

Today’s devotion is compliments of Leigh McElroy (http://www.leighmcleroy.com/).

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Call it a hunch, call it "Spidey-sense," call it an assurance, blessed or otherwise: There are some things you just know.

You haven't heard a voice from heaven, or any voice at all, really. But you're drawn. Led. Guided by an unseen GPS. And somehow, you are sure that you should follow.

A few weeks ago, I was scheduled to travel to North Carolina for a time of study and training that had been on my calendar for nearly a year. I looked forward to it. I wanted very much to be there. But I didn't go. The day before my scheduled departure, I knew for certain that I couldn't go. A kind of silent star stood over the place I call home, as sure to me as the one that stood over Bethlehem at Jesus' birth.

I stayed put...and staying put was right. My "silent star" led me to a place where Jesus already was--where he knew that I should be, too.

It stood without fanfare over my ailing father's room at 5 p.m. on an ordinary Tuesday, and it shone steadily until just after 9, when an amazing duo of dispatched nurses finished tending to him, and he was resting comfortably again.

Here's the thing about silent stars: they don't explain themselves in advance. They don't offer running commentary that reassures. But when you reach the place they've led you to, you know. And you find Jesus there.

The wise men in Matthew's gospel knew what the star was about when they reached the place where Jesus lay. Until then, they simply trusted the light they could see and followed as it led.

I don't know what's in the dark of night with you this Advent season--what direction you need, or what light you long for. But if you should see a silent star and feel it's undeniable pull, I pray you'll follow it all the way home, and that the following will fill you with an indescribable joy.

- Leigh McElroy

And now the star, which they had seen in the east, went in front of them as they traveled until at last it shone immediately above the place where the little child lay. The sight of the star filled them with indescribable joy...  (Matthew 2: 9-10, J.B. Phillips Translation)

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