A friend of mine in a 12-step program wears a bracelet that says, “Watch for God!”
I wondered what it meant, and he told me that as part of his recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous, he has learned that God is always with you, every minute of the day, interjecting himself into your life in wonderful and amazing ways that distracted people completely overlook. “You have to be ready for the miraculous because it’s occurring all around us, and we don’t even notice,” he said.
His perspective made me think of those shepherds on the hillside, keeping watch in the night, when suddenly the REALLY miraculous broke out all around them — the angel of the Lord made a glorious birth announcement, stars were twinkling, and the heavenly host on high was praising God. It doesn’t get any more miraculous than that.
I’ve come to believe the same is true every Christmas when God pours out his grace on a troubled and afflicted humanity.
The tragedy is that so few people are watching because they’re too busy partying, playing, shopping, arguing, wining, dining, and just being all-around distracted. They’re not watching for God.
The three wisemen were definitely watching for God. They saw the star, they knew the prophecy, and they followed it to another country and were rewarded for being observant.
At the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, there’s an 18th century Neapolitan creche with almost 90 figures, meant to represent Bethlehem. Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus are on a hillside in the center of the village, surrounded by angels and the Magi.
Throughout the scene, characters come and go in a cosmic drama. People tend to their business in shops, on streets and in homes. They’re peddling vegetables, lighting lamps, selling wares and conversing.
Each figure responds in a personal way to the Mystery of the Incarnation. Some are adoring, others are ambivalent, some are curious, others are indifferent and, yes, some are oblivious that the Son of God became man and was born of a virgin.
Their preoccupations and distractions prevented them from seeing the most important event in human history. They were not, quite simply, watching for God. Two millennia later, we have to ask: Are we watching for God?
What does it mean to watch for God at Christmas? It means to expect miracles. Keep an eye out for them because God makes them happen. Hurts are healed. Hearts are consoled. People who didn’t talk for decades are suddenly reconciled. A young woman who felt hopeless and lost decides not to have an abortion, and suddenly finds help for her crisis pregnancy. A person who months ago asked for your prayers tells you that the prayers were answered. She finally found a job or got help for an addiction. Someone’s son discovered the faith or recovered from a debilitating illness.
When you realize that God answered your prayers, you’ll feel immense joy because you were part of that miracle. That’s God at work. Think of them as Christmas miracles. Everyone gets them if they watch for God.
Eighteen years ago, on a cold and wintry Christmas Eve, my father died while I was 300 miles away, stranded in a blizzard in northern New Hampshire. My first thought was, “God, how could you let this happen?”
My sister had been driving him home from my nephew’s Christmas pageant, when he said he didn’t feel right and put his head down on the seat. When they reached home, they realized he had suffered a massive heart attack. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital, but they couldn’t revive him.
Just about midnight that Christmas Eve, my sister was sitting alone in the empty hospital waiting room when a young minister passed through. He stopped to ask what was wrong. She told him that her father had died.
He paused, looked at her, smiled and said, “What a wonderful gift to spend Christmas in Heaven!”
Watch for God. You won’t be disappointed.