The pageant proceeded as scheduled—Angels, Shepherds, Wise Men, Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child—Children reciting their lines while parents beam with pride.

The lights dim, children freeze in place; all is quiet. Then the children get up and leave; the pageant is over.

The Christmas Season—four weeks of carols, pageants, sermons. Four weeks of parties and dinners with friends. Four weeks of decorating and shopping, of remembering the lonely, the needy the less fortunate.

A Christmas Tree overflowing with gifts, the family dinner. And Christmas is over.

Did I miss something in the hustle and bustle of the season? Decorating the house, shopping for family, parties with friends, Advent and Christmas Eve services.

The pageant is over; and I go into the cold night of routine living, Working, worrying, struggling with life. Back into the dark night for the lonely, the needy and the less fortunate.

What happened to the pageant? It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Did I miss the God who broke into the cold night of life? To guide and strengthen in struggles, To comfort when dreams are shattered?

Perhaps the real pageant is not performed by children in a church Or in a manger on a square; But in the lives of people.