12/23/2022
āIn 1965, Charles Schulz, a devout Christian and creator of the Peanuts comic strip, was asked to create a Christmas special for CBS featuring the Peanuts Characters. He agreed with one requirement, that they allow him to include the story of the birth of Jesus. Although the stations executives were hesitant and tried to convince him otherwise, Schulz was insistent. As a result, for the past 50 plus years, millions of people have watched and āA Charlie Brown Christmasā and heard the story of Jesus and āwhat Christmas is all about.ā
It wasnāt until a few years back that I realized a āhidden messageā in the film. Linus, a child who seems to have some insecurities as he carries a security blanket with him at all times. In fact, Linus NEVER drops his blanket, except once....
While sharing the message of āwhat Christmas is all about,ā Linus drops his blanket at the exact moment he says the words, āfear not!ā
In this seemingly innocent moment, Linus delivers a powerful reminder of the true meaning of Christmas. We are to āfear notā, for Jesus is born. We neednāt rely on material things for security, we have God with us, āImmanuelā, (Matthew 1:23) Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior - the true meaning of Christmas.
Awhile back, someone informed me, indignantly so, that Linus picks up his blanket at the end of the speech so my interpretation must be wrong. Well, he was right, Linus does pick up his blanket at the end of his speech. However, he ādropsā it again later...
Amid big, bright, colorful, shiny artificial trees, Charlie Brown chose the least of these, a little, wooden tree with just a few branches. Shortly thereafter, Linus uses his blanket to wrap about the base of the tree and says, āMaybe it just needs a little loveā. In that moment, the tree āawakensā, stands tall and firm. A reminder that no matter who we are, how many mistakes weāve made, a ālittle loveā can make all the difference.
Letās strive to āfear notā (Luke 2:10) and ālove one anotherā (John 13:34), not just at Christmastime, but the whole year through.ā
Borrowed from Charlene M. Speer & āChristian Life Ministryā on Facebook...