Magic

I remember hearing a story about actress Natalie Wood when she was filming the movie "Miracle on 34th Street.". At the time, Wood was only eight or nine. During the course of filming, she really believed that character actor Edmond Gwen really was Santa, with his white hair and beard...("Oh, go ahead, pull it."). When filming wrapped and the cast came together for a party, Gwen had shaved his head and also his white beard. He showed up at the party as a normal guy... Not Santa Claus. Apparently, little Natalie was crushed because she'd truly come to believe that Gwen really was Santa. But he wasn't.

I remember feeling so bad. What a rotten way for her to find out! This was supposed to be a writing about victory.... But it's actually rather depressing. So, what is the point of that? Childlike belief made Santa Claus real not only to Susan (in the movie), but to Natalie herself. This is how belief in Jesus works. Our childlike faith makes him real to us. And the wonderful part is, we never have to find out that Jesus is just an actor! Now, the Christian life is a serious thing, but the wonderful mystery of Christ, is that he's the one who makes it possible to Know God without having all our ducks in a row. It's amazing because the whole "Miracle" story is representative of Christ. Here you have this little girl, whose mother is diligently trying to raise to be an adult. So, in sincere attempt to do this, she has attempted to do away with anything make believe or childlike. As she herself words it:

"by filling them full of fairy tales, they grow up considering life a fantasy
instead of a reality. They keep waiting for Prince Charming to come along, and
and when he does, he turns out to be a--"

At this point, Fred Gaylee has to say:

"We were talking about Suzy, here, not about you."

Doris (Susan's mom) is in charge of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. At the end, of course is always jolly old St. Nick. So, Susan sits in Mr. Gaylee's apartment and explains how each balloon has been changed from last year's parade to reflect this year's characters. Of course Mr. Gaylee makes his remark about the baseball player (balloon) is a "giant". Mother's firmly planted defenses come to light when Suzy gives her answer:

"Not really-- there are no giants Mr. Gaylee. People sometimes grow very big, but that's normal."

It is at this point that we learn that Suzy does not know any fairy tales and does not believe in Santa Claus. Now, there's nothing wrong with her rather "literal" answers, but the point is that Mr. Gaylee wasn't talking about real Giants, he was using that word to describe the balloon. But Suzy's inability to pretend or imagine wouldn't let her know that.
So later, when Mr. Kringle comes to work at Macy's, he finds out that Suzy never plays any games with the other kids in her apartment building.

"I don't play much with them. They play silly games."

Suzy then tells the story of the kids playing zoo and pretending to be animals. Kris tells her that the other children were only children, and they were pretending to be animals. It is then that Kris gives Suzy her first lesson in pretending. He shows her how to let her arms hang loose and be a monkey. For a few glorious moments, Suzy forgets how serious she was being and genuinely enjoys nothing but play. Suddenly, nothing is expected of her and she does not have to come up with an answer for anything. During the filming of the movie, Natalie got to believe that Santa Claus existed for a while. Sure, that part of the story has a sad ending, but even the sad things in life are meant to teach us something.

All I'm really trying to say, is that sometimes we just have to take a chance and believe. We can't wait until we have all our ducks in a row... Because they never will be. The best things in life usually have no manual or philosophy or rules. In these cases we have to use our own imaginations, and... Make it up as we go! I'm not talking about being uncaring. I just think that as hard as we work to keep all bad things out, the flip side is that we're not allowing anything good in either. I think it really is like Mr. Gaylee says:

"Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.".

I'm just so thankful to God that my life is full of magical little moments; moments that are sort of like when Suzy got to pull Santa's beard, she see's that it's real! For one moment, a childlike joy fills her eyes, and she has her first evidence that...it might be true!! :). The same is true for our faith. God can take the absolute smallest speck of it... And water it with his love and make it grow! Little things... Perhaps things that don't seem to mean anything at the time;

A DJ on the radio, a you Tube video, a piece of mail, or an instant message, a visit from a friend, plans that are cancelled (maybe what you end up doing is more important). But there comes a turning point, and something changes. Somehow, a light goes on, and you're different than you were before. I suspect your life is full of them too... Of course! All these moments put together create some kind of magic. We can't explain it... But it's there! That "magic" is God... saying ...

"I'm here. And I love you!"

I'll bet somewhere inside you, there is a mustard seed...something that still believes...in magic!

Ask God to water it for you.

Take care my friend.