The costly kings

I'm not usually an impulse shopper, but this particular day I must have really been in the Christmas spirit. It was a few years ago when I came across these little Magi ornaments and they were not cheap. (well, they might be cheaply made, but the price tag was not!) They are very delicate and breakable, made of something that is a cross between glass and egg shells. I just had to have them.

They were sold separately, not as a set. Please tell me, who would want just one wise man?! Certainly not me. I had to have all three of them. So I bought them. All three of them.

I don't remember exactly how much they cost, I just remember it was way more than I should have been spending on ornaments. I haven't seen any like them since, so I'm glad I have them. They always make me smile when I unpack them every Christmas.

I mean, look at those little camels. Don't they make you giggle just a little? They are just so adorable that I think they deserve their own little spotlight, so I don't hang them on our tree. Plus, they cost enough to deserve a little extra attention. I set them out on a little ledge near the tree opposite this nativity scene, as if they are making their way over there...

The nativity scene is a handblown glass ornament that was given to us by some friends at church. The yellow coaster is my added touch of Fiesta decor. I always have to add color.

These little things are special for lots of reasons, but mostly because they remind me that a Savior traded in his kingly robe and crown for a cloak of human skin. And He did it for me. He did it so that I would have a crown one day. I want to be like those Magi. I want to kneel in the presence of Jesus and lay my crown at His feet.

Lord, teach me how to be a wise woman. Show me how to let all the glory be Yours and not to think any of it belongs to me.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 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 and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. Matthew 2:9-12