THE THINGS WE NEED MOST

(Post by: Madie Hobbs) Blogmas Day Seventeen 2024

I was out doing some Christmas shopping with my best friend the other day, before we got together with the rest of our besties for one of our dinner parties we’ve been having every week in December.

It was a fun, cold, snowy day we hadn’t planned on spending together, but some plans changed and we were able to go on the hunt for some of the things we needed. One store we entered had a large Christmas display set up right when you walked in the door. An explosion of glitter and reindeer and plastic gingerbread houses. It was quite literally unavoidable.

I was chatting with someone we knew, who we’d met at the door, and yet my eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to the, no doubt, time-consuming and almost alarmingly colorful setup in front of us. Once my friend and I moved on to gather our things, I took a second to look back and observe what was really cluttering the entrance.

The display had everything you might need for a secular Christmas. A sign that read, “Baby, it’s cold outside!” Reindeer grazing on a snowy landscape. Bottle brush trees in every pastel color you could imagine. Ribbons and candlesticks all covered in sparkles. So much fake snow it was a wonder the table could support it all.

Yet not a single piece of it reflected Christmas. Not really.

I had a lingering moment where I asked myself a question I’m not sure I have ever deeply considered.

What do all these people think they actually celebrate at Christmas?

As we walked through the store, I was left a little stunned by the thought. What is the purpose of all this if we aren’t celebrating Jesus’ birth? If we aren’t celebrating the literal salvation of the Earth, what is the point of it all? Where do they think this all comes from?

Then, the Lord turned the question back on me.

What do these people think you actually celebrate at Christmas?

The question stung a little. If I’m being honest, I haven’t been the picture of cheer this season. I haven’t been the person so utterly grateful simply for the gift of that salvation, I need not possess anything else. For a second, I hoped no one would look to me for an example of what Christmas should be. Yet I was convicted when the Lord reminded they would.

The whole train of thought jolted me back to my re-watch of the Grinch from a few days ago. My favorite version of the classic story is the 2018 Illumination one, because I feel like that edition gets at the heart of what the change that occurs for the Grinch is really about.

There he is on Christmas Eve, riding into Whoville with his sleigh ready, and that nasty, malicious grin on his face. We all know the story. He steals the lights, the presents, the trees, the wreaths, and seemingly, the Who’s Christmas. Then, he takes all of it to the highest peak above the little town to dump it.

When the Who’s wake, they experience quite the surprise when they find all their hard work to make Christmas 3X bigger than it has been totally thwarted. But then they do something quite lovely.

They form a large circle around the spot where their town Christmas tree once stood proud and bright. Hand in hand they begin to sing, the sweet melody rising to where the grinch is now contemplating his actions. When the symphony reaches his ears, he frantically pulls out his telescope, bewildered at hearing the song instead of their anguished cries that all their stuff had been stolen.

He focuses on Cindy Lou, a little girl who cornered him the night before after mistaking him for Santa Claus, and who made just one request. She confessed she didn’t want any presents, but only for her mom, who worked so hard to support their family, to be happy.

The request is what initially began the softening of the Grinch’s attitude, but now, watching Cindy Lou singing with all her might, eyes closed as she soaks in the beautiful moment, the movie describes him like this:

As he watched the small girl, he thought he might melt.

If he did what she did, would he feel what she felt?

The Grinch closes his eyes, following the example of Cindy Lou, and his heart thumps, and thumps, until the song bursts from his heart.

And the luscious sound swelled, reaching up to the sky,

And the Grinch heard with his heart, and it tripled in size.

His eyes snap open, his features already softened with happiness. He clutches a hand to his chest and breathes deep, feeling his joy grow to an amount he never thought possible. Only one compulsion fills him now.

Having heard the Who’s goodness, having felt the Who’s song,

He tried to make right what he had made wrong.

After delivering their possessions back to them, he returns to the loneliness of his dwelling, knowing deep within him that the Who’s have every right to despise him. Yet his assumption is proved wrong by a tiny knock at the door. There stands Cindy Lou with an invitation to Christmas dinner and an instruction not to be late.

The Who’s welcome him with open arms, sit him at the head of the table, and grant his request to say a few words. He tells them of what he thought Christmas was before, of how he’d felt for years and years, and how finally he realized it had all been wrong.

Christmas was about so much more than big displays, and bows, and reindeer, and sparkles. He describes perfectly what Christmas is about in his final lines:

And the Grinch raised his glass and led the Who’s in a toast.

“To kindness and love. The things we need most!”

Something I now realize is that the example we set for what Christmas should look like is really quite simple. Kindness and Love. For is this not the essence of what our Savior brought us, in that stable on a Christmas long gone?

What do we celebrate at Christmas? Does the world hear our song and feel our goodness? Do they question the absence of something to celebrate when they see the way our hearts triple in size, and we strive to make right the world around us that has gone wrong?

These are the things we need most, and I am determined to give them.

The question is, who will help me?