If you want to see a star you have to go into the dark. Staying warm and comfortable in a well-lit room won’t enable you to see a star. Go into the darkness — and the best star-viewing occurs when it is cold, when the humidity has been squeezed from the air. The magi saw the star of the new-born king “at its rising.” They were looking for it, they were waiting for it, they saw it. All of which is instructive about prayer. To meet God not as we would like God to be but as God is, we must leave our comfort zone and go into the darkness. Prayer is often a darkness, a waiting, but the promised star of God’s presence does arise.
