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Santa Phobia
Friday, December 13, 2024 by Sarah Schwerin

This may not be a popular opinion and I may lose friends, but here it is: I don’t like Santa. I think it started as a child when I was asked to sit on an overweight stranger’s lap, or maybe it could have been when a stinky Santa Claus gave me a generic Barbie whose head popped off as soon as I unwrapped the doll. But I think my dislike most likely started and kept going because I don’t like asking for gifts.

Making a wish list has always been problematic for me. Isn’t asking for presents selfish? Do I even deserve good gifts?

Many of us have no problem being Santa Claus to those around us. We delight in giving gifts and taking care of others. Yet sometimes we neglect to ask for what we need or want. At the end of Christmas day, we sit among the scraps of wrapping paper, exhausted. We see our family and friends holding what they’ve longed for. However, we hold a present we don’t want or need. Or perhaps our arms are empty because we forgot to ask.

Christmas is supposed to be about giving gifts and we usually do our job well, don’t we? But if we do such a good job, why do some people end up feeling sad and let down as they clean up the mess of everyone else’s joy?

Well, maybe Christmas isn’t just about playing Santa Claus to your family.

Christmas didn’t begin with a guy in a red suit kneeling at a clean manger. Christmas began with a broken package, a bleeding body. It began with the real Father Christmas. Father God gave the first Christmas gift: His only son. It was a gift that cost Him everything.

Can you imagine giving your only child to a world who hated him, murdered him, and tried everything they could to erase his memory? Yet, that’s exactly what God did. He gave Jesus to us because he knew some of us have a hard time asking for what we need.

God isn’t like Santa. He’s not a fat man with a list of naughty and nice children. But he is a good Father who welcomes us to ask for what we want and need.

God gave us Jesus, who experienced the same hard world we experience. Even though Jesus suffered, he never sinned, he never messed up. Yet he died the death we deserve so we could climb into His Father’s lap.

“Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all—all but the sin. So let’s walk right up to him and get what he is so ready to give. Take the mercy, accept the help” (Hebrews 4:14-16, MSG).

This Christmas, don’t stop being Santa to those around you. But make time to climb into your Father’s lap and ask him for what you need and want. He’s listening, and He’s already given us the best gift ever.

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Comments

Joanne Jacquart From Eustis, FL At 12/15/2024 8:37:51 PM

This is an excellent reminder to me as a grandmother that I don't need to be Santa, but to remind grandchildren that it's Jesus birthday and WHO he truly is to me. I know this, but good reminder as I prepare for Christmas. Thank you, Sarah.