I ran into a little boy while shopping. I asked him if he had been good this year, and he smiled and said yes. I asked if his dad – standing right next to him – would agree that he has been good, and he smiled a said yes a little less confidently. I then asked if he thought Santa was watching, and he said no. When I asked him why, he said because it was a cloudy day. How could Santa see through all the clouds? I smiled at this Dad and told him that no matter the weather or time of year, Santa could see everything. The father winked at me…and I encouraged the little boy to be good and to have a very Merry Christmas.
I thought about the mix of faith and logic this little boy exhibited. He believed enough to know to be good, even if he may never have seen Santa. He believed enough to know that this time of year it was especially important to be good. Yet the logical side of his brain had a hard time understanding how Santa could see despite the weather. I could appreciate how his young mind thought. On clear days Santa can see everything. On cloudy days he can’t see through all those clouds, so…did he still have to be good?
Childlike faith is about believing without seeing. It means knowing something is true even if you can’t touch it. Faith means believing when all other things – logic, the media, your big brother, the kids at school – all tell you differently. Faith means moving forward as if it were even when you have never experienced the real thing for yourself. Faith means being able to suspend logic enough to allow the glimmer of hope inside your heart to shine brightly and overtake doubt. It means giving in instead of giving up.
I left the store smiling, as I had experienced for myself a little bit of Christmas magic. The little boy reminded me that faith and logic will always seem to be in conflict with each other, and we have a choice to make. Do we believe or do we think it to a logical conclusion? Like that little seven year old, I choose faith on sunny and cloudy days.
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