“I’m not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and affects a jolly demeanor. You know, I’m a symbol. I’m a symbol of the human ability to be able to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives. If you can’t believe, if you can’t accept anything on faith, then you’re doomed for a life dominated by doubt.”
Kris Kringle in the movie “Miracle on 34th Street – 1994 Edition”
Have you been reading about the national government “shutdown”? Let me tell you I have a rant all prepared about this and was ready to post it. Then I remembered our little grandson singing in church yesterday, and another of our little grandsons putting cookies out for Santa two days ahead of Christmas – JUST IN CASE. And I remembered our little granddaughter ringing handbells in church concentrating so hard and later telling me about what she has asked Santa for. It gave me pause and then I remembered the above movie quote and why I love the Christmas season and why I need to ease up a little bit.
Ohhh, there is a lot to NOT like about the season. It has become only a commercial event for many. We get so caught up in the business and the busy-ness of it all that sometimes we forget what it is all about. But kids believe – they really believe. Do we adults believe in anything? While I sometimes don’t act like it – I believe – I believe in the Biblical Christmas story – that God became incarnate and dwelled among us. But what charms me about the season is that many if not most of us DO TRY to “suppress those selfish and hateful tendencies” if only for a few days. So, we pick up little notes from Christmas trees at the local McDonald’s restaurant and bring things for the Ronald McDonald House or wrap gifts for farm families caught up in the bad farm economy or bring toys to the Toys-for-Tots locations etc.
And I believe that we need to believe and have faith in some things. The Bible says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). I am not insisting that everyone believe in Christianity as I do or to convert my friends who are of different faiths. But I think that as humans we need to believe in some things not seen – that we can’t prove. I don’t think that is crazy, I think it is healthy. This might seem a little hypocritical from someone who has devoted a good part of their life to science. But I think people sense this need and that is why they find themselves doing things, good things, at Christmas that they don’t do the rest of the year. They are trying to escape our selfish and hateful tendencies for at least just a little while.
May you find some escape, some faith, some hope, some happiness, some belief in this season and for the rest of the year.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!