‘TWAS the day before Christmas and a young mother – we’ll call her Mrs Lee – was tearing her hair out at home as she tried to keep her two boys – we’ll call them David and Brendan – entertained, while making the necessary preparations so close to the big day.
So, Mrs Lee takes her two young boys to see a supermarket Santa Claus. In spite of the supermarket’s clear sign ONE CHILD AT A TIME PLEASE the Lee brothers hurdled the small white picket fence and jumped on Santa’s knees.
“Ho ho ho! And ho ho ho! What do you boys want for Christmas this year?” the fat, jolly Santa asked.
The Lee brothers gave their long lists to Santa in stereo: “The new Monopoly game! Cheater’s edition of course!”
“Yeah, and an XBOX One S for me; and with games this time, not just the rubbish they give you in the bundle!”
“And for me a Harry Potter magic wand – a wand that actually does real magic this year, Santa!”
“Better make that two wands, Santa! Sharing is overrated and in our house it’s a recipe for fighting!”
Santa replied: “Ho ho ho! I’ll do my best to see you boys get lucky!”
Later that day, the young mother took her two boys to the local department store.
And there again was another Santa in all his glory.
Again, the little boys ran up and jumped on each of Santa’s knees and let rip: “As we told you earlier Santa, a Cheater’s edition of Monopoly.”
“XBOX One S, with extra games.”
“And unless you want us casting horrible spells on each other, not one but two Harry Potter magic wands!”
This Santa looked at the little boys sternly and said: “And do you two promise you are going to be good boys and help your mother around the house this Christmas?”
Little David and Brendan jumped off Santa’s knees with shocked looks on their faces. They slowly slid away, step by step, from Santa, never taking their eyes of him, over towards their mother and whispered in her ear: “Let's go back to the supermarket!” Brendan said.
David agreed: “Yeah, we didn’t have to make any promises there!”
Many Christmas novels and movies centre around hopeless circumstances that were overcome because someone had faith, and that faith was rewarded. Miracle on 34th Street and the peerless It’s A Wonderful Life are but two examples.
Each Christmas Day, thousands flock to Bondi Beach. Police vouch there are few – even zero – incidents on the day.
A similar comparison can be made between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Christmas Eve is like walking the streets of heaven. New Year’s Eve has become one of the most dangerous nights of the year for violence. What changes in a week?
A week later, on New Year’s Day, thousands again descend on Bondi.
Yet this time, there are so many arguments and fights and even arrests that it makes the news annually.
A similar comparison can be made between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.
Christmas Eve is like walking the streets of heaven. New Year’s Eve has become one of the most dangerous nights of the year for violence.
What changes in a week? Well, there’s probably a few ways you can explain this, but one I like to muse on is that all the people celebrating Christmas Eve or on the beach Christmas Day are thinking the best of everyone: thinking good thoughts about all the other people around them.
A week later, that spirit and those thoughts have disappeared.
What if this Christmas we thought the best of everyone, not the worst?
Even if they are a little insulting, what if you thought “they’ve probably had a tough year” or “perhaps they didn’t mean to be mean”?
When you believe in people you will treat them better, and they may very well become better people because someone believes in them. Maybe that’s why God sent Jesus, the most famous unplanned pregnancy in history, as a tiny baby to help us believe in those that are still only small and weak.
Zig Ziglar said: “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.”
Believe in someone this Christmas. You may be the only hope they have.
Twitter: @fatherbrendanelee