“Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight.” Hearing these words by Santa’s deep and gentle voice always sound so comforting and nostalgic. Growing up one of the memories of Christmas time drawing near I remember the most is catching “Frosty the Snowman” and “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on cable TV. It plays numerous times from Thanksgiving until Christmas but regardless of how many times I have seen it, it never seems to get old. A short story of an insignificant reindeer with a bright red shiny nose captures the hearts of children and families everywhere. Macie and I happened to turn on the TV. tonight for a few quick moments while finishing up the bath/bedtime routine and happened to catch the infamous reindeer in action. My heart began to jump with joy, and as Macie giggled with excitement we sat cuddled together watching the remaining 30 minutes of the movie.
Although just a cartoon and a storyline which is completely far-fetched we could still all learn something from this traditional Christmas movie. Rudolph was teased and struggled with feeling very insignificant and out of place due to his shiny red nose. He spent so much time running from the light and trying to cover it up, afraid of what his friends and family might say. Instead of seeing his nose as a beautiful vessel he saw it as an embarrassment. Although others didn’t understand the beauty initially, in the end we learn of how the one thing that others saw as being a hindrance and abnormal was really the very thing that set Rudolph apart from all the other reindeer. Rudolph had a light that lead his life and because of that he was able to push through the monster storm and lead Santa and the others on a beautiful journey.
I wonder how often we struggle with the Rudolph syndrome. We run from God or hold Him at a place in our lives where we are afraid to let His love shine bright and instead of embracing it we try and hide. We run and embrace the things of this world that don’t belong and find ourselves feeling separated and lonely like the misfit toys in the story. Or we don’t want others to see how real, beautiful and personal that relationship can be because we are afraid of what others will say and will view us as being abnormal or not cool. We often find though that regardless of how hard we try to cover up the light of Jesus in our lives we will never fully be able to. God’s love for us is amazing, abundant and unconditional, its power is something so intense that once we are touched by the love of Christ we can never run or go beyond His embrace ever again. We will never understand the depth of God’s love and the fact that even when we run and try to hide we can never go beyond His reach, its all-consuming and overflows throughout our entire being onto every aspect of our lives. When life is good and we need to celebrate He is there, and when life is difficult and there are huge storms ahead it’s that very light that can lead us through.
The story of Rudolph turns out the same beautiful and perfect way every time I see it. He realizes the power and beauty behind the light and how important that light is in being the guide in the most important things in life. The scary thing is that the story of Rudolph is just a kid’s movie, it’s not real life and there are no alternate endings but in life there are. Each day we have to choose to embrace Gods love and allow that love to be a light and guide in our lives. We can choose another path but what will the journey along the story or the ending look like? John 8:12 “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Allow the love of Jesus to be that bright vessel each day that will lead you along life’s most beautiful and most devastating and difficult storms.
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