Keeping Our Eyes on the Star

by Marian Alderman

It’s here – another New Year. We can shake the dust of 2008 from our feet and, keeping our eyes on the Star, vow to make 2009 a better year.

So what does that mean for the United States of America? Was 2008 so very disastrous that anything can be better than the circumstances we faced as the year ended December 31? The bursting of the housing bubble, Wall Street meltdown, auto manufacturing loss of jobs, bankruptcies, government bailouts, and political scandals dominated the news. Can it get worse?

For those of us past four score and ten, the answer is an absolute and resounding YES! For some of us even older, the answer might be that we deserve the mess we’re in, that it’s time to pay the piper and change our ways.

Does any thinking adult not agree that we have been heading for a train wreck for years? It’s been so easy to spend beyond our means. Equity loans, credit cards, cash back auto loans, living from paycheck to paycheck believing that our jobs will last forever, that consumerism is the only way to enjoy the goodies that life has to offer. Why deny yourself when the swish of a piece of plastic through a slot will buy anything your heart desires?

Don’t we live in the richest nation on the planet? Isn’t our standard of living far and above most nations? Don’t we deserve all the latest gadgets and conveniences that are available?

We like to think that God has blessed us because we a good, noble people. We have welcomed the “tired, the poor, the huddled masses” to our shores, and we have shared our wealth with citizens of less prosperous nations. Yet, in spite of all the poor press we get from the international media, we have a hard time keeping people from coming into our country illegally.

Still, here we are in 2009 feeling insecure, fearing for the future and wondering if the vision that was a land of liberty for all peoples is just that, only a vision, that the good times are over, and we are now a nation in decline. On TV last week was the story of some fellow in Great Britain who has predicted that there will be no United States of America in – are you ready for this? – 2010!

On Sunday, January 4^th, Pastor Jim continued his story of the first Christmas. He had covered most of the dominant players earlier, but he told us about the Three Wise Men who came late to the place where the Christ Child was born. When they began their journey, they had no maps, no GPS to point the way. They had one guide to their destination: a star. By keeping their eyes on the star, they eventually arrived bearing gifts for the baby who would one day be the Savior of the World.

Pastor Jim urged us to keep our eyes on the star, on Jesus of Nazareth. We can survive whatever the future holds if we put our lives and those of our families in God’s hands. Just keep your eyes upon Jesus!