When people think “shepherds” at Christmas, they think, “keeping watch over their flocks by night” and angels singing, “Glory to God in the Highest and on Earth, peace, and goodwill towards men.” Those are the verses that are focused on, from the Charlie Brown Christmas special to Sunday school lessons. But the shepherds’ story still continues five verses after the most popular passage. You see, after the angels went back up into heaven, the shepherds looked at each other and decided that they had to head into Bethlehem. They had to see the baby that the angels were singing about.

Have you ever been so overcome with fear that you felt paralyzed? Has your fear ever made you feel completely incompetent and of no value? Has the power of fear ever whispered multiple lies into your heart, which you begin to believe as truth? One little fear in our hearts can ripple into an insecurity, then into an overwhelming thought, and then soon a lie that begins to hold truth over our lives leaving us feeling unworthy– even more than that– not ourselves.

The Three Kings. The Magi. More commonly known as the Wise Men. Which begs the question: what makes them wise? It could be their academic prowess. It could be their ability to study the stars and ancient texts in a world where science and technology were beyond most people’s understanding. For me, there are two things that are readily apparent as I read through the beginning verses of Matthew 2. The first is that the Wise Men were sensitive to the Holy Spirit. They saw a brand new star appear in the sky and immediately knew that this star was the sign of Jesus’ birth.

Maybe it’s a little cliché, but I think this passage of the Christmas story is my favorite. Whenever I read it, I can’t help but feel such wonder for the moment. Mary, a young Nazarene girl goes from unseen and simple to the living proof of God’s amazing power and love.

Most of the time, just by first glance we think that we have someone all figured out. In our own minds, we convince ourselves that we are intelligent enough to see right through a person even when we know so little about them. When we do that, we often miss out on a great opportunity to challenge ourselves or experience a great friendship. I think we can all pinpoint one person in our lives that we thought we had all figured at first, but once we got to know them, they were completely different than we thought. This is what the people of Jesus’ day and age did from the day he was born to the day they thought they silenced Him for good. Unfortunately, due to the pride, judgement, and pettiness of people, they never got to develop a relationship with Jesus that would have satisfied and changed them forever.

I am sitting down writing this devotional in Starbucks with a grande coffee next to me and an overwhelming to-do list bouncing around in my brain. Yet, in the midst of all my unchecked tasks, my mind longs for is some much-needed rest. If you know me you know I love my sleep, so when I say I am longing for “rest,” I am talking about 12 hours of deep sleep. I have gotten to the point in my life where I am used to the fast pace world we live in, and I can tell you honestly, I am not a fan. It feels as if is there not enough silence to rest and hear the Lord.

Step into Mary’s shoes for just a moment. She recently heard from an angel that she was chosen out of all women to give birth to Jesus, the One the prophets and scriptures spoke about, the One her nation has waited for since its very beginning. Yet ever since this wonderful and mind-boggling news was shared with her, it was the source of a few stressful predicaments. Her husband-to-be pulled away from her emotionally, despite her promises that she was still a virgin.