Today is the twelfth day of Christmas which marks the visit of the Magi to Jesus in Bethlehem. Much that is told of the Magi is legend. The names attributed to them—Balthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior—are first mentioned in the middle ages. The Bible does not even list three, but as they brought three gifts, they are usually depicted as being three men. Scripture also does not refer to them specifically as kings.

The visitors are described as Magi. That’s the Greek word that can mean an astronomer, or someone who has supernatural knowledge, or even a magician, which comes from this word Magi. Paintings of this scene are traditionally called the Adoration of the Magi, because these Wise Men from the East come with one goal in mind—to worship the newborn King of the Jews.

Let’s leave the Magi adoring Jesus for a moment to fast forward to our own time. When I think of the word adoration, what first comes to mind is adoring fans like those who were part of Beatlemania that swept the US in the 1960s. The Beatle’s had thousands, millions really, of adoring fans.

That’s the problem I have with the Wise Men. What does the Adoration of the Magi mean. I just can’t quite reconcile the images of Beatlemania or adoring Elvis or N’Sync fans with Wise Men crossing the desert with Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh.

I see the Magi coming in and finding Jesus in Mary’s arms just fine. Then the scene morphs, or just changes all at once like a dream careening out of control as one thought leaps to another. One of the Magi starts balling his eyes out, crying hysterically, “It’s the newborn King. It’s really him!”

The other two go wild, “Woooo Jesus! Yeah!” Then they start chanting, “God! God! God! God! God! God! God! God!” The Wise Guys are going nuts, “Who let the dogs out? Who? Who? Who? Who? Who?”

Then the whole scene vanishes like a dream that becomes so unbelievable you have to wake up. Your subconscious won’t accept the dream any more. We know all about adoring fans and the Magi sure sound like adoring fans of Jesus. What’s wrong with this picture? What’s wrong is that Wise Men from the East just don’t seem like the type to go crazy like that. Especially not when all they see is a mother holding her baby.

The Greek word used in this story for adore is proskuneo. It means literally to bow down and kiss the ground. It is used to describe worshipping someone. That’s the Adoration of the Magi. They come in carrying their fancy gifts, but on seeing the boy who will become the King of Kings, they drop all of that and bow low to the ground. It is an Epiphany. An “aha” moment where you go, “I get it! I finally, really, get it.” It’s a moment of understanding. And in that moment of understanding, all the Wise Men can do is bow low and adore the one true God.

You see I’m not the bow down and adore kind of guy. I just don’t picture myself dropping to my face and kissing the ground. It’s not that I don’t love God, it’s just that I’m probably more of the “Jesus, woooo!” sort of adorer rather than the bowing down to the ground kind.

But as I stuck with this story I thought about the Magi and how when they saw the new star they were drawn to worship not the star, but the creator of the star. Then I got it! The light bulb went off. It all clicked. I had that “aha” moment, whatever you want to call it. I had an Epiphany.

I’ve been adoring God my whole life and I never quite saw that adoration for what it was. There were hundreds of images flashing in my mind. A foggy walk through the redwoods in California leaped to mind. Then there was an amazing Technicolor sunset on the beach in Brazil. Next I remembered a trip to Cloudland Canyon in Northwest Georgia, There an icy waterfall broke apart in the sunshine of a January day, sending enormous hunks of ice crashing down into the water below, the sound booming on the canyon walls. With that sound still ringing in my memory I remembered the vast stillness of the desert. Nothing but sand and rocks. Then the breathtaking vastness of the Grand Canyon leapt to mind.

Again and again I could see, hear, feel the thousands of times I had come in to contact with God’s creation in such a powerful way that it was beyond words. There were in fact no words to describe the experience; there was only an attitude, a deep inward feeling of “yes.” I felt not just the creation, but the creator behind it all, in it all and beyond it all.

While I never actually dropped to my knees, bowed low and kissed the ground, in my heart the adoration was there. Adoration isn’t so much an action as it is an inward attitude, a disposition. Adoration is a way of looking at things and just saying “yes.” Yes, I see it God and I know it is you.

In these moments of adoration, we want nothing. We have already received what we want. Adoration does not flow out of desire. Adoration flows out of gratitude. The secret that I missed for years was to see these Epiphanies for what they are—an encounter with God—and to see my own response for what it is—adoration.

Once we learn to see these moments for what they are, we can respond. I ran across this idea in a little booklet on prayer written by a missionary to China—The Rev. Charles F. Whiston. He suggested a way to cultivate adoration by responding with some set phrase each time. I have tried to put his advice into practice and I find that it really works. What you do is to adopt some way of acknowledging God in moments when you feel God’s presence.

Whiston suggested some pretty churchy sounding phrases like “Glory be to thee, O Lord most high” or “Glory be to thee, O Father, And to thee O son, And to thee O Holy Spirit.” That doesn’t work for me. The best I can do is to think, or even say, “Yes Lord, I see.” And once you have a ready phrase to acknowledge God in the sunset, in the breeze or in someone else’s smile, then little opportunities for adoration present themselves.

I find myself thinking “Yes, Lord, I see” more than I would have expected. You can even try a “Jesus, wooooo!” if you want. The words and actions are not the main thing. The inward feeling in your heart is the main thing, for signs of God’s presence are all around. Come let us adore him.