The Tension of Following Christ

It’s the day after Christmas, and I find myself breathing a deep sigh of relief. Not because I survived all of the hustle and bustle of the day, but because I successfully navigated another year of dancing around the Santa Claus question. 

You see, my girls are almost two and four and we simply don’t discuss him at our house. I haven’t initiated a sit-down conversation to disclose that there is no man coming down the chimney any more than I have cleared the air that Elsa and Anna won’t be waltzing into their next tea party. Each year I pray that I can continue to treat him no differently than the other fictional characters in my daughters’ lives. In theory, this should work beautifully.

There is only one problem. He is everywhere. From the grocery store checkout line to family and friends, the world constantly asks, “What is Santa bringing?”The constant barrage of images, songs, stories, merchandise, and shows hammer in the importance of believing something that is a fairy tale. My daughters’ blank stares in response will only last so long.

I realize only now, after Christmas is finally over, how much this intricate dance of avoidance has taken a toll on me. 

I’m not trying to take away my children’s magic in this season. I’m desperately striving to protect it. Magic spills from their giggles as they run across decorated lawns to embrace the baby Jesus in the nativity scene. Their captivation with one so humble floods my heart with the overwhelming significance of this season. The incomprehensible miracle of this day requires no dressing up. Adding anything threatens to cheapen the magic of God’s Son descending from heaven in human form. Why talk of anything else? 

When people ask my girls, “Guess who’s coming tonight?,” may they always respond with overflowing hearts, “JESUS!”

This post is not about whether or not families should “do” Santa. It is about the tension we feel as Christians. 

The truth is that we will always live in a world that wants to make life about anything but Jesus. We will always tiptoe through the minefield of living in a world we don’t belong to. In order to protect our wholehearted devotion to Christ, we must fight to keep the fictional characters of money, popularity, success, busyness, and importance from taking the place that Jesus rightly deserves in our lives. 

Christmas may be over, but I wake up today with the same resolve to desperately cling to what is real. What is true. What is eternal. 

We will have to fight to keep Christ first in out lives, but when we place Him in the center of our hearts, He requires no dressing up. He is more than enough. My prayer for the new year, is that we each experience the magic of Christ, God with us, sustaining and filling us each and every day with living water as only He can.

And when the world asks, “Where do you want to be in five years?” or “What is your goal?” or “How do you measure success?” may we respond with overflowing hearts, “JESUS!”