Have you ever noticed something you’ve never noticed before?
I’ve heard the song all my life. Yet until the other day, the lyric has blown past me like snowflakes on a windy December day.
My girls were singing in the next room over. “…later on, we’ll conspire, as we dream by the fire. To face unafraid, the plans that we’ve made, walking in a winter wonderland.”
“To face unafraid, the plans that we’ve made…”
As a child I remember sitting around the holiday table with my parents and grandparents. Great uncles and aunts. Neighbors and old family friends. They told stories of Christmas past when sleigh bells jing-jing-jingled on real live horses that pulled the sleigh over the river and through the woods because that’s how you got to Grandmother’s house when the snow was too deep to drive in.
They told stories of the winter of 1936 which, by all accounts, was the Grand Poo-Bah of cold and snow, the standard by which all other wannabe winters are measured. “The March blizzard of 1966 was a doozy. Snowed in the house without electricity for three days. Yep, that was a big one. But back in ’36 I was stuck in the house for a whole month with a colicky baby. Your Grandfather had to walk to town with the other men to get supplies because the snow was too deep for the horses”, says Grandma. The memories poured with the coffee and dished out with the cherry pie.
I listened and wondered how they managed. How did they get anything done, let alone go forward?
Inevitably, the conversation would turn back to comparing life then with life today. They concluded that the world wasn’t the same. It was going downhill.
And, of course, they were right.
“To face unafraid, the plans that we’ve made…”
Most of the story tellers in my life are gone now. As much as I miss them and would give anything for another Christmas lunch that turns into Christmas dinner without leaving the table for the talking, I’m glad they aren’t here to see the world as it is. The world today is a mess. It really is going to hell in a hand basket.
War, famine, disease, corruption. All the usual suspects. An intrusive government unleashed upon its citizens, devouring their rights as it steals their money. Self-serving, self-aggrandizing elected officials bloated with hypocrisy and void of integrity and character. Too many taxes and not enough tax payers. A mentality of entitlement and a disappearing work ethic.
And that’s just the short list.
As the deep voice from the old radio asked the weekly question to my Grandparents, “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?” We know. Sadly, we know. All too well.
It’s enough to make one throw in the towel. To quit. To give up. To go along to get along. To say, “What’s the point of trying?”
“To face unafraid, the plans that we’ve made…”
Long before The Shadow knew, God knew what evil lurks in the hearts of men. It’s the reason we celebrate Christmas. We decorate with Rudolph and Frosty and Santa Claus and glowing nativity scenes. These are all wonderful. Yet if we were to be theologically and Biblically accurate we’d hang a bloody “Paid In Full” receipt over the fireplace. The reason for the season is hopeless sinners being rescued by a loving God. That’s what we hang our candy canes on.
Because of Christmas, we have hope. Because of Christ, we have a future. Because of Christ we have divine purpose. Because of Christ we can and should make plans. Big and bold plans to grow and expand and learn and do, all for our good and for His glory. Because of Christ, “we have not been given a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7)
Yes, the world is a mess. It’s getting worse by the day. But Christ has overcome the world.
Overcoming the world of darkness with the light of His life was part of the plans that He made.
That He faced unafraid.
Let us go and do likewise.
May you be blessed with a bold and fearless Christmas.
“For unto you this day in the city of David is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!”
– Luke 2:11
Todd A. Thompson – December 24, 2012
