A wise man's resolution

Jesus, help me work on my New Year's resolutions! Amen.

After Jesus was born, three wise men came to King Herod, asking, "Where is the newborn King of the Jews? We followed His star here and came to worship Him." Herod worried that this "new king" might take over, so he sent the wise men to find Jesus and come back. The men found Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, and brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But an angel warned them that Herod would kill Jesus; so, instead of returning, they went home another way.

Happy New Year! Some kids start the year by making New Year's resolutions. Promising yourself to work harder at math, be more patient or learn to ski can sound like a great idea, but following through on your resolution is hard for lots of people.

Even the three wise men in this week's Gospel (Mark 2:1-12) were tempted not to follow through on a promise they made. They had traveled from a faraway country just to see Jesus, because they realized He was someone special. But when Herod asked them to find the baby Jesus and report back, they almost did that. If they had, Herod would have killed Jesus!

Some kids make New Year's resolutions and then do the opposite of what they promise: They resolve to exercise more, but then sit around playing video games; they get frustrated with working on math and totally give up. They forget that resolutions are hard, and that it's okay to make mistakes when you're working on them.

For the wise men, it wouldn't have been okay to keep trusting Herod. The wise men came to worship Jesus and bring Him gifts, not to put His life in danger! The wise men knew they had to keep their resolution, so they didn't tell Herod where Jesus was. They went back to their country on a different road, and Jesus was safe.