#wise men

Behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” Matthew 2:2

Why did the wise men travel hundreds of miles to look for the Newborn King? So that they could worship Him and lay their treasures at His feet. What do I learn from these wise men?

1. They diligently sought the Newborn King. The Bible says, Those who diligently seek Jesus will find Him.

2.The wise men presented their treasure to Jesus. Christmas is not a time to just splurge but a time to give.

3. The wise men worshipped the Newborn King with reverence.

[Wise men: Cynthia Hizer]

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Candace Chellew

Shared from a friend's page:

Some words from the monks: Some people may ask: “How can I stay peaceful when difficult situations arise?” We must begin by understanding: we are where we are. Situations happen—often without warning, often beyond our control. We cannot always prevent or change them.

But here is what we can control: the way we respond.

When difficulty arrives, our minds rush forward—overthinking, catastrophizing, creating stories about how terrible things are. We make situations heavier by adding layers of worry and fear on top of what is already challenging.

But if we pause, if we become mindful of our breath in that moment, if we notice our thoughts without getting swept away—Something shifts. The situation doesn’t disappear, but we stop making it worse. We create space for clarity, and in that clarity, we can see what we should actually do to help the situation, instead of just worrying and feeling defeated.

In that mindful pause, we might also remember something we’ve forgotten: right now, countless conditions are still nourishing our life. We are alive. We can breathe. We can eat. We can walk. These are profound gifts, genuine happiness—but we rarely see them because our minds are too busy racing toward worry, too consumed by what’s wrong to notice what remains right.

This is what mindfulness offers in difficult moments: not power to control what happens, but wisdom to see clearly what helpful action we can take, to breathe consciously, to remember that even in difficulty, we are still held by life, still capable of responding wisely instead of simply reacting.

The situation is what it is. But we can change how we meet it—with presence instead of panic, with clarity instead of confusion, with wise action instead of helpless worry.

Peace in difficult times doesn’t mean nothing bothers us. It means we stop making everything worse by losing ourselves in our thoughts. It means we stay grounded enough to see what we can actually do, then do it with a calm heart.