Two Staffs, One Anchor: Two elders from Usütomi village, Zunheboto, both in their early 90s, make their way home after morning prayers at the church. While their bodies rely on wooden staffs, their hearts rest on the Eternal. This moving portrait serves as a powerful reminder that true strength is a journey walked by faith. (Photo Courtesy: Vinoka Kinimi)
Wati Aier
On this blessed season of Christmas, my heart was moved by a photograph carried in the Morung Express, December 19, 2025, a simple yet profound image entitled “Two Staffs, One Anchor.” It showed two elderly persons, well into their nineties, from Usutomi village under Zunheboto district, returning home after morning prayers at the church. Their bodies leaned on wooden staffs, but their hearts rested on the eternal.
This image is more than a picture; I imagined as a parable. It speaks of frailty and strength, of human limitation and divine anchoring. The staffs remind us of our dependence, our need for support in the journey of life. Yet the anchor is Christ Himself, the eternal presence who steadies us, who holds us fast when the storms of age, weakness, and uncertainty press upon us.
Christmas is precisely this, God’s eternal anchor entering our fragile world. In the child of Bethlehem, the eternal Word became flesh. He came to accept us as we are and to transform us, so that our dependence becomes trust, and our frailty becomes a channel of His strength.
We often ask what gift can we possibly offer to God at Christmas? The truth is, we cannot give Him riches or power, for all creation is already His. What we can offer and what pleases Him most is our obedient acceptance of the mind, purpose, and work of Christ. To let Christ live in us, to let His prayer become our prayer, His compassion our compassion, His obedience our obedience. This is the gift that endures beyond the season, the gift that transforms our lives into channels of His eternal presence.
The two elders of Usutomi remind us that even in the twilight of life, when the body leans on staff, the heart can rest on Christ. Their morning walk to the church is a testimony, that faith is not diminished by age, but deepened; that prayer is not weakened by frailty, but strengthened by surrender.
This Christmas, let us walk together with our staffs of human need, but let us anchor our hearts in Christ. Let us allow His eternal presence to steady, to guide, and to transform us. Let us become channels through which His light shines into our families, our communities, our land.
Christmas is not merely a memory of Bethlehem; it is the Emmanuel, God with us. It is the eternal God touching us in Christ, so that we may touch others with His love. May this Christmas inspire us to live as witnesses of that eternal life, to embody the prayer of Christ in our daily walk, and to rest our hearts on the anchor that never fails.
Friends, the staffs will one day fall, but the anchor will hold forever. Let us receive this gift. Come, let us be touched anew by the eternal God who touched us in Christ.
Amen.
