Are you a Cindy-Lou Who?

Does it feel like we are in a Grinch movie? The ugly, green Grinch's sinister plot to take down Christmas has come in the nasty form of a pandemic. It has wreaked havoc on the world. Seemingly stealing Christmas from all of us.

No holiday gatherings. No Christmas parties. Many of us are without jobs, many of our loved ones have been sick with Covid, disruption in our daily lives is at every turn. There are food lines. It is a Grinchy world.

When my first child was young, she loved to watch the animated 1966 film, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! We watched it over and over. It got to the point where we began to call her Cindy-Lou Who because she would watch the screen with those hopeful eyes, time and time again, to make sure that... well, that Christmas did come after all.

Are we watching; are we waiting? Even though trouble swirls all around us, and Christmas won't be the same this year, are we looking for it? 

Over two thousand years ago, love came down to earth in the form of a baby. Son of Man. Son of God. His name is Jesus, and He changed the world. He healed the sick, made the blind see, walked on water, made the water turn into wine, raised the dead. In His time, it was a sinister world with sinister plots. None of them took Him down. Instead, He laid His life out for us as a gift. A gift for all mankind. A gift for all eternity. This Bright Morning Star will surpass any Grinchy world.  

The Who's down in Who-ville knew just what to do. They sang. They rejoiced in the simple but absolutely love-filled gift of Christmas. Nothing could change that.

So, through this pandemic, can we look for Christmas? Like my daughter did, and smile with hope in our hearts because, after all, this gift from God will outlive any Grinchy world.

Merry Christmas!

1966 Animated, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss, copyright, 1957, By Dr. Seuss, published in New York by Random House, Inc.

Photograph by Jonathan Boba