My three and a half month old daughter and I read a story every day. Well, I read and she coos at the brightly colored pages. My philosophy on reading to her came from somewhere between being one of “those” parents that got it into their heads that their child will be a braniac if you begin reading to them at the ripe old age of about 1 week and giving my very active daughter something to do since her attention span is a bit short these days, and also the joy of laying side by side, spending time together. All in all, it is a very wonderful 20 minutes of my day. 

For the month of December, I decided Kendall and I would read out of a very special Christmas book that I have. One that was passed down to me from my mom and that I always remember reading as a kid growing up. The first week was great. You see, there are five stories in this book and each are filled with beautiful pictures and Christian morals about this magnificent holiday. But as I began to recite the same stories over and over again, I was the one with the short attention span, not my daughter.

There is the story of the mice who ate through the old piping of an organ at an old church, so therefore the church could not sing music at the Christmas Eve service. The bishop went home, made up a poem, brought it to a friend, who put together some music and wa-la – we have one of the most famous hymns of them all: Silent Night. (Not sure if that is really true, need to do some research on that one)

Then there is the story of a little tree that no one wanted to cut down and use because it was so scrawny. People wanted the big tall trees to make ships and grandioso buildings. No one had any use for an itty-bitty tree. But one day, an old man (not quite sure why the hero of almost every story in this book is an old man, but it is.) chopped down this little tree, who was so happy he was going to be of some good use. Long story short, even though the little tree dreamed of being built for palaces and beautiful things, he ended up being used as a manger for some cows. Well, little did he know, he was built for a King. The King of all Kings! You see, he ended up being the manger that held baby Jesus. Hence, the meaning of the story, even someone who does not think they will be used by God, can indeed be used in a very big way.

But the story that I have kept returning to (to be honest, the main reason is because the pictures are very vivid and bright and my daughter squeals with delight every time we read it.) is the story of a little boy named Jamie. Jamie is searching for the Christmas star that his dad read to him about. He decides to take his teddy bear, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and his wagon and go off on a journey around his neighborhood to find this special Christmas star. Along his trek, he encounters several people. One being a little girl who was crying because she had no friends. Jamie gave her a hug and told her about the ultimate Friend, Jesus. Another being a lonely older man sitting on a park bench by himself. Jamie sat down beside him and shared his sandwich and listened to the old man tell stories from his younger days. Jamie walked by another little girl and saw the most beautiful Christmas tree and started singing praises to God for making such a beautiful world and the little girl began to smile. He helped a blind lady retrieve her cane after some mean boys knocked it out of her hands. And so on and so on…Jamie helped several people on his journey that day to find the star, but yet he never found it. Finally, Jamie decided his teddy bear was getting tired (this is really in the story), so he headed home.

Once he arrived, his dad met him at the door and asked if he had found the star. Jamie was very sad as he shook his head no. His dad then wondered who all of these people were that were following Jamie. Jamie turned around and saw the blind lady, the two girls, the older man and the others that he had helped in some small way. He had told each of them about the story of trying to find the star.

They each in turn told Jamie they had seen the star. Jamie couldn’t believe it. The sad little girl told him she saw it in his hug, when he was comforting her. The older man saw it in his listening ears, when Jamie listened to him tell his stories. The little girl who smiled when he passed by heard it in his voice when he sang the beautiful song. And the blind woman, even though she could not physically see, saw it in his heart as he helped her when she was mistreated.

The moral of this story: every person has the ability to give a “star” or many “stars” just like Jamie. It could be listening to someone who is lonely, giving encouragement to someone who is sad, helping someone in need, or simply living life by example in the joy of knowing Christ. This holiday season, I ask you to take a simple children’s story and put it in action. Pull out your star. Make it bright, however you can and you will encompass what Jesus wanted this season to be. A reminder of His birth and that love He showed by coming down to earth. Now it’s our turn to show others that same compassion and love. Be like Jamie. Shine your star.