On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

This past week in church, we were studying the wise men’s role in the Christmas story. It was mentioned, as it is from time to time, that the wise men weren’t actually there the night of Jesus’ birth like we show in all of the manger scenes.

By the time the wise men arrived, Jesus was actually a toddler living in a house, not a baby in a manger.

In years past, I’ve tucked this fact away as an interesting tidbit, but this year, I just couldn’t get past how radically different this makes the story of the wise men.

Have you ever stopped to think about how radically different newborns and toddlers are?

My own son is a little over a year old and we are in full-fledged toddler mode.

My day typically consists of chasing him around the backyard, pulling things out of his mouth that shouldn’t be there and apologizing to the dog for the clumps of fur that my son is yanking out with glee.

There’s lots of laughter, lots of babbling and a fair amount of tumbles that lead to tears.

I try to imagine what the scene was really like for Mary and Joseph the day the Magi arrived.

Did they have to chase Jesus around too?

Was Mary embarrassed by Jesus’ lack of attention with their important guests and the fact that her home looked like it had been ransacked?

Did Jesus stare with wonder at the shiny gold right before he picked it up to see how far he could throw it?

Did Jesus try to get them into read to him his favorite book when they were bowing down to worship him?

Did he try to eat the frankincense and myrrh?

I imagine Mary picking up the gifts in a hurry and promising that she will give them to him again when he was a little bit older.

If you ask me, that’s a far cry from the manger scene where the wise men are reverently bowing down before a sleeping newborn resting peacefully on Mary’s lap.

But the real question is; why does it matter?

It matters because the wise men still worshipped him, right there in the midst of the toddler chaos. They didn’t let the imperfectness of the situation keep them from their goal, to worship The King.

So often, we allow so many things to keep us from worshiping God.

In church, it might be that the music is too loud, the songs are too contemporary or not contemporary enough, the room is too hot or the worship leader is having a bad hair day.

At home, we seem to have a never-ending list of why quiet time with God just isn’t going to happen today; for example the laundry isn’t done, the kids are requiring too much attention, dinner needs to be on the table by 6pm.

There’s always some sort of chaos going on around us that just seem to keep us from worshiping The King.

But if the wise men’s visit was anything like what I imagine, they had plenty of reasons to not worship.

They were on a mission to worship The King and they weren’t going to let anything stop them.

I don’t know about you, but that’s how I want to be this Christmas season.

I don’t want to let Christmas breeze past me in a blur of lights, trees and cocoa.

I want to set out on a mission to worship The King, right in the midst of the chaos of life.

So, let’s join the wise men…

“Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Matthew 2:2

Read Britney Christian Miller’s other Fruitful Stories, CLICK HERE

Christ is Born is a new Christmas song was written by Britney Christian and Jim Licata, CLICK HERE