She said her granddaughter sat down her mom & dad and asked, "Okay mom and dad I need to ask you something real serious. I want to know are you two Santa or is he real?"
They paused for a moment and then carefully replied, "It's what you choose to believe in." I smiled, walked away, wishing Carol a Merry Christmas and reflected on her daughter's advice to her granddaughter. This got me thinking about the BELIEVE messages this time of year, especially Macy's, "A Million Reasons to Believe."
For the 3rd year in a row, Macy's is doing its "Believe Campaign." This is based on the famous story now referred to as, "Yes Virginia" where an 8 year old girl named Virginia wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Sun asking, "Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?" The editor responded with a response in the paper with, "Yes Virigina, there is a Santa Claus." After reading both Virginia's original letter and The New York Sun's response I was so touched with the need to believe and the support to continue to believe, something I think the Christmas spirit is all about.
Macy's generating a million reasons to believe by asking everyone to, "Write a letter to Santa and help make wishes come true! Bring your stamped letter to Macy's and drop it into Santa's Mailbox. For ever letter received, Macy's will donate $1 to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation, up to $1,000,000. We'll then deliver them to the Post Office for mailing to Santa."
So why am I blogging about this? This time of year is the SEASON of belief. How could it not be? We hear about belief all around us. You see it in movies such as The Santa Clause (see 2:43-3:00 of the clip below), we hear it in songs like Josh Groban's "Believe," and we tell our children, grand children, nephews, and nieces to believe. Yes, we're telling children to believe in Santa and in doing so the magic of Santa. But I say what we're really teaching them is magic of belief. The root of the message is the power in believing in something so much that IT IS REAL and MAGICAL to you, even if only to you. However, if enough people believe in it too (perhaps a community of believers) imagine the magic that would come from that!? So why do we have to stop believing in Santa Claus? Heck, why do we have to stop believing at Santa Claus? Why do we lose belief or stop believing? After all we're the ones responsible for teaching this message to young ones, just as it was taught to us when we were young ones.
In 2:23 of the video clip above Judy the Elf talks to Scott Calvin about his disbelief. "That's not surprising, most grown-ups can't believe in magic. It just sort of grows out of them" she says. Is that it? Do we just grow out of our beliefs? Do we grow out of believing in magic and magical things that can happen? If this is the case it seems it is simply rather an elementary and an easy concept to grasp where our children should be teaching us because they do believe. Think about the tenacity they show when approaching a jungle gym and wanting to navigate it successfully. Or when babies learn to walk, they always seem to get up again after each fall. They believe they can do it. Surely, they believe to achieve!
A couple of weeks ago I remember I was talking to my friends Cody & Caroline and I said that's "unbelievable." They paused and called me out on it, asking me to question that word. I think they're as right as is Judy the Elf is. Have we grown out of believing (in things such as Santa Claus)? More importantly have we grown out of things we believe in to the point we use the word unbelievable without realization of what that even means?
So here's what I propose. Imagine what your life would look like if you held onto even just one of your beliefs. Think about how dramatically your spirit could change if you believe. If you practiced belief, would it cause a domino affect and help inspire others to believe too? And if we all believed together, think of the kind of magic that would emerge?
Well 'Tis the Season for Believing, but perhaps this is practice as we come to year 2011. If we believe in things with as much passion as children believe in Santa Claus we could make so much more progress and be a healthier, happier, society. So that's the challenge of this season and next year. Think of what you want to believe in, without doubt and without question. As I was reminded today in my talk with Carol, "It's what you choose to believe in." Make your choice and then believe in it with conviction and then put that belief into action! I love what it says below, but have adjusted it here, "And for those spirited ones, BELIEF will always exist."
If you would like to show you believe in the holiday spirit, use iB-LIEVE's Twibbon and make it either your FaceBook profile picture and/or Twitter profile picture like I have. It's easy, free, and adds a nice festive holiday touch to your profile picture =). We would love to see a number of our family & friends within the iB-LIEVE community showing their support for the spirit of belief that comes alive during this holiday season. Thanks for your support!
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Drew Chin
~ Don't Stop Believing ~
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