Do you believe in Santa Claus?
That was the essential question running through the film, ‘The Miracle on 34th Street’.
In the cinematic classic, Kris Kringle works at Cole’s department store as Father Christmas listening to young children’s wishes and dreams for Christmas. Everyone sees him merely as a happy old man playing a role for the season. Kris sees otherwise. He believes (and ultimately knows) that he isn’t some fancily dressed up character used to attract customers to the store to buy their Christmas presents. He is, actually, Santa Claus for real.
After being tricked into an assault he ends up in jail, and loses faith in who he is (see, even magical people have that happen!!). Encouraged by his lawyer to defend himself he goes to court to clear his name and declare that he is, indeed, Santa Claus in the flesh and not some fairy tale told to children.
The case soon looks doomed until the daughter of Cole’s events director hands the judge a Christmas card with a $1 dollar bill inside. On the bill she put a ring around the phrase, ‘In God We Trust’, which is printed on US dollars. In that instant the judge realises that the whole of society is founded upon the faith and trust in a being that can’t be seen but is, nonetheless, entirely believed in as the unseen hand and guide in our lives there for us at each and every turn. If the government and citizens can base their fundamental system on that belief, then Kris Kringle can equally be believed to be Santa Claus.
The film suggests many miracles – that Father Christmas is alive and well. That children and their love can turn us from hard hearted cynical individuals into soft hearted caring people. That when all seems lost, if we keep believing, winning can appear from out of nowhere. And above all else, that those who do believe great and phenomenal things are the ones that end up changing the world and keeping the world in a good place.
Belief is a miracle maker. Miracles have to be believed.
Life itself, just to be conceived and be alive, is the ultimate miracle of all for each one of us.
So, whatever situation you may find yourself in or are currently in, remember to keep believing in who you are and how the end result will be like celebrating at Christmas. Because belief is the very spark that makes miracles happen at all.
Or as Kris Kringle himself said in the film, ‘To me the imagination is a place all by itself….It’s a wonderful place’.
I believe that he is right!