Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh

January 9, 2026 | My Jottings

I have been paying attention to the church feast day and season of Epiphany for the first time in my life. It has been beautiful and even thrilling to study and read about it, and direct my heart and thoughts toward what the Magi went through to get to Jesus. It is estimated that they traveled at least 500 miles from Persia to Bethlehem, and possibly up to 1000 miles, most likely on camels. We assume there were three wise men because we know they brought three gifts to the infant Jesus — gold, frankincense and myrrh. But we don’t know for certain that there were three of them. What is known is that they were learned Gentile men who were intent on worshiping the newborn King, announced to them by a special star. And that in spite of what the brooding King Herod told them to do, they left by another way after presenting their gifts and worshiping Jesus.

And it has long been taught by the Church that gold was to signify that Jesus was a King, frankincense was given because it stood for worship and meant Christ was the heavenly deity (actually fully God, fully human), and that myrrh was given as a sign of Jesus’s future burial. I also read that myrrh was a medicinal, healing balm, and it foretold that Jesus would be (and is) the healer of our ills.

In one of my morning readings in a devotional where the writer isn’t credited, I read this:

“What then, is the gold that a Christian could place before Christ as a babe? The gold of a Christian…refined by fire mentioned in Revelation chapter 3, verse 18, is love. How do we obtain love? We purchase love with love itself — it is by loving that we accumulate love! Provided that he/she is capable of offering the pure gold of love of neighbor, the Christian can add to it — without being a liar — the frankincense of prayer: a life of prayer that ascends toward God as a sweet-smelling offering, because it is not mixed with hypocrisy.

But the incense of our prayers remains fleeting without myrrh, in other words, without our communion in the passion and death of Jesus. The myrrh in the life of a Christian consists of his/her sufferings, sacrifices, and death, offered…for the glory of God and the salvation of the world.” (Note: this is not saying that anyone’s sufferings, sacrificial living or death saves the world — these things can be offered to the Lord, used for His purposes if He wants, to speak to others and lead them to the salvation that comes by the death of Christ).

Oh my, I thought. I am not very loving. I could probably find hypocrisy if I dug a little deeper. And while I spend time in prayer every day, I am not where I want to be on that deep and mysterious journey of prayer. And when I suffer? I don’t remember very often to hand it over to the Lord, who can make anything beautiful that is given to Him. And sacrifices, which are the true sign of a lay-down-your-life kind of love, are not a huge part of my daily to-do lists.

As I read through this again and again, it came to me like my own kind of epiphany: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh are what the I want to give to the Lord this coming year. And probably all the years after that, however long I have left on this earth.

The pure gold of real love of God and neighbor…. that is the gift I want to give Him, yet I cannot, without a thousand mercies and graces.

The beautiful frankincense of a life of prayer…. not just a time of prayer, but a life of prayer. I have been seeking after this for a long time, and as I place myself before Jesus each morning in the dark, I ask Him to make the rest of my life one of prayer. I am not able without Him, but I know I’m praying His perfect will to ask this, day after day.

And myrrh… that somehow, miraculously (and I truly mean it would have to be a miracle of God), whatever hardships and sacrifices are to come to me as I age and move toward my end here, could be used of Him in some way. That I could be what my last name suggests, and bring balm and healing and help to someone, even if only by prayer.

I look at these attributes that gold, frankincense and myrrh could point to, and it might be laughable because I’m not being falsely humble when I say I’m not even close to living this way. But I’m still alive, there’s still time. I love Jesus and desire to love Him more fully and deeply. He can do miracles today.

It has been a long time since I’ve chosen a focus word for the coming year, as has been common in recent times. But for 2026, I think I have three words: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.

I pray God will make me different than I am now — I want to genuinely love Him and others, I want to live a life of prayer, and I want to nevermore cause pain and hurt feelings to anyone, but to humbly bring His healing and hope, to suffer well, trusting Him with every part of my life.