“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.” Miracle on 34th Street
December 25, 2024, And Every Wednesday
By Linda Case Gibbons, Esq.
(Check out Lest We Forget and FYI.)
This is Christmas Day, Christ’s birthday. A day that has been filled with all sorts of miracles. And you cannot deny, “There’s a kind of hush all over the world tonight.” (Sung by Herman’s Hermits.)
We all know that when a bell rings, an angel gets his wings. (From the Jimmy Stewart movie, It’s a Wonderful Life!)
We know that if you listen closely on Christmas Eve, you will hear, “Up on the rooftop, reindeer paws.” (Gene Autry.)
And that children are, “All snug in their beds. While visions of sugar plums dance at their heads.” (From the book, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.)
I documented the ways we think, read and sing about Christmas -- Gene Autry, Rudolph, the story that tells us, Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night, because we have Christmas knocked here in the U.S.
We love it. We celebrate with style, (sometimes maybe too much style). But sandwiched in between the hustle and bustle, Americans know that miracles are happening every day.
Especially on Christmas.
Our country has been especially blessed with the miracle of men who have been there to lead us when we needed them the most.
And the world has been blessed with a man, who was born on Christmas Day.
Jesus was an ordinary man, born in an ordinary way, a baby who laid in a manger, surrounded and protected by ordinary cows and sheep. But the news of his birth was mystical, preordained.
A star marked the place of his birth. Wise Men from the East followed the star, so they could come and adore him.
We know the story of Jesus, told to us in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Jesus grew to be a man whose personal philosophy centered on Love and Forgiveness.
He attracted devoted followers, even though following him meant danger, possibly death, for them.
He himself was a peaceful man, yet this baby struck fear into the heart of those who were possessed of great power.
Herod the Great, the Roman appointed King of Judea, feared the coming of Jesus so fiercely that he ordered all male babies in Bethlehem, under the age of two, to be slaughtered.
Herod was angry that Jesus would take away his power.
His son, Herod Antipas was also fearful, and was instrumental in the beheading of John the Baptist and the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.
The same evil exists today. Those who are powerful fear, and want to destroy, what they cannot understand or control.
But miracles happen every day, readjusting the course of life.
Men who are filled with hatred and anger at their own inadequacy, who try to destroy a country whose precepts they don’t understand, are thwarted.
Though they try, in their ignorance and greed, to harm those that are smarter, kinder, and more capable;
Though they try to destroy a country that is better, fairer and more generous than any other;
Some force, dare I say a miracle -- a couple of angels who got their wings when Donald Trump rang, and rang, and rang the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange, perhaps? -- protects those they target, steps in between a bullet, reverses an unfair lawsuit, secures a fair election.
It’s really quite mystical.
But everyone knows, miracles happen every day.
Especially on Christmas Day.
Hold the line, America.
Stay strong, Patriots.
I wish you a Merry Christmas. And thank you for following my blog. I appreciate it.