January 4 was a depressing day in my childhood. This was the latest possible day for school to resume after the Christmas holiday. Back to spelling tests and compositions. Back to arithmetic and history. It was like Christmas had never happened.

I think about that in connection with the shepherds. What an experience they had on the first Christmas. An announcement of the Saviors birth by a herald angel. The heavenly host singing “Glory to God in the highest.” The trip to the stable. The infant lying in a manger. The conversation with Mary. The journey back singing praises to God. And then . . . And then . . . And then what? Back to life as usual. Tending sheep. Fighting off wolves. Making sure some Roman tax collector doesn’t take the sheep. Pretty much the same as usual. What had changed for them because the Messiah had come?

This is hard to answer. The Scriptures never mention the shepherds again. What’s different for me because the Messiah was born? I know I experience a longing for something beyond me, a sense of hope. I feel the need to pray. I can’t imagine being without Sunday worship. I know I have a set of values, even if I don’t always live by them. Especially when I look at a painting of the nativity.

I have a sense that something essential would be missing from my life if this had not happened.

I don’t know if that’s enough to say the coming of Jesus changed me, but I’m glad he came.

Read Luke 2:20 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne