Believe

Day 17.

Today is Christmas Eve. The long anticipated night for children everywhere. Santa is Coming!! This “jolly old elf” is one famous man. He has different names, but whatever you want to call him…Santa is basically amazing. Everyone wants to feel and see magic around them. Christmas is considered the most magical time of the year. Maybe that’s why we all want to believe. We all want to believe in life, in our dreams, in our purpose, in our fellow man, in our God—so why not believe in Santa? He embodies all that is good. He gives to everyone and encourages good behavior in children. What more could we want? The Christmas tradition has many greedy qualities, but at the root of all the greed, there really is good. The reason for celebrating is the joy that comes with the birth of Jesus Christ. And that joy can be seen in each little kid’s eyes as they await the coming of Santa. I don’t think it is just the prospect of presents that brings that excitement and wonder. There is a wonderful mystery surrounding Santa/St. Nicholas/Kris Kringle/…, and that mystery also surrounds the birth of Jesus. Santa goes to every house in the entire world in one night. Jesus was conceived by a virgin. Both amazing and almost unbelievable. Yet, we want to believe. We have faith in the unknown. A rare quality in humans, to be sure (we usually fear what we don’t understand…but that’s a topic for another time). So we believe. We have faith in a little baby born of a virgin and a man in red with a belly like a “bowl full of jelly”.

This time of year, let’s all continue to believe in something (it doesn’t matter what) As the Clock Ticks…