Merry Christmas, Friends! This post from 2018 seems even more appropriate for 2020. Please read it and be encouraged!

Don’t you think that the Christmas season inspires more creativity than any other season of the year? There are multitudes of songs, stories, poems and plays. There are also a myriad of movies and TV specials. In an attempt to make money off of a movie’s popularity, film companies will often create a special Christmas offering. Notice that I didn’t say that all that creativity is actually “inspired.” Many of these works are admittedly forgettable. But there is one presentation you might not know about that always touches my heart. 

One of my favorite movies is the 1991 Disney film, Beauty and the Beast. It was the first full length animated film to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Not only was it popular, it really is an excellent film. Disney made lots of money in spinoff projects, one of which was Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.

The action is set in the middle of the original storyline during the winter while the Beast and Belle are becoming firiends and starting to fall in love before the enchantment is broken. Belle wants to celebrate Christmas which the Beast has forbidden. Her efforts are brought to a halt by the Beast but, of course, in the end he comes around and a joyful Christmas is celebrated on their journey toward an ultimate happy ending.

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is a musical offering and there is one song that so captures the spiritual essence of the holiday that I find it often in my head. The lyric that says it all is this:

“As long as there’s Christmas I truly believe that hope is the greatest of the gifts we’ll receive.”

The song has a lovely melody and is reprised as a beautiful duet between Belle and the castle decorator, Angelique, whose enchanted form is a Christmas angel. The reprise takes place at a point in the story where the Beast has angrily destroyed all their preparations and thrown Belle in the dungeon for leaving the castle grounds in search of a Christmas tree. Angelique, along with the other enchanted household members, comes to encourage Belle, Angelique begins the song, which was originally sung by Belle to convince her to help them prepare the celebration,  and as Belle joins her they look into the night sky where a bright star reminds them “As long as our guiding star shines above, there’ll always be Christmas so there always will be a time when the world is filled with peace and love.” 

This moment intentionally whispers of the real Christmas story and the star that signaled the birth of our Lord, the birth of hope that doesn’t depend on family or gifts or decorations or Christmas dinner. 

Such truth. We celebrate not just because it’s fun, or to be with family. We celebrate because the birth of Christ meant that God has sent the light of hope to us. Hope that our relationship with Him can be restored. Hope that this life s not all there is. Hope that one day we will see God and be with Him forever. Hope that one day all that doesn’t make sense in this world will become clear. 

This life is disappointing. It’s a fact that we’d rather not admit. Very little turns out as we expect, as we hope. That includes our Christmas plans and dreams which are often colored by the images of perfect families advertised in commercials and Christmas specials. Maybe your family won’t all come home. Perhaps your loved ones won’t be excited by whatever you’ve purchased or throw their arms around you in a grateful hug. LIke, Charlie Brown, you may not “feel the way [you’re] supposed to feel.” But there is a place where you won’t be disappointed. What are you hoping for this Christmas? Have you set your hope high enough? Have you set your hope where it won’t be disappointed?

We are disappointed when we expect something that doesn’t happen. But there is an expected gift that won’t disappoint. It’s the higher hope that began when a teenage girl said YES to God and brought forth her firstborn son and laid him in the manger. I imagine her dream wasn’t to give birth in a stable, but her hope was higher. She knew that her child was not just a gift to her, but to all. This child was the fulfillment of a longstanding promise from God to the Jewish people that He would send a deliverer, a Messiah. Jesus came to fulfilll that hope, but, for all who put their trust in Him, He also offers hope that He will come again. That hope is the only thing that brings sense to our faith. 1 Corinthians 15:19 says, “And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.” When our hope is in God fulfilling all of His promises, then we won’t be disappointed. He is “our guiding star” and that Star will always shine so we won’t lose our way. Love and peace come from Him. 

As long as there’s Christmas, there’s hope. 

Have a blessed holiday.  

Key Thought: The greatest gift of Christmas is hope.

A Scripture to consider: “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” ‭‭Titus‬ ‭2:11-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A YES challenge: Take a few minutes to be honest with God about your disappointed hopes. As you offer them to Him ask Him to help you to understand the full measure of hope that has been given in Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, if I am fully honest with You, then I must admit that I have not fully embraced Your promise. You didn’t come to give me a happy life on earth. You came to give me the joy of Your presence in a disappointing earthly life and the greater joy of living in Your eternal presence when Jesus comes again and makes everything right. That is my hope. And because it is my hope I can say, “All is well.” You are my greatest hope. Amen. 

Click here for a link to that little reminder in The Enchanted Christmas.

Click here for some info on Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas: