With Christmas around the corner, we received a special message from Santa’s assistant at the North Pole. She mentioned that since Santa likes these weekly Words of Encouragement, he wants me to pass along these encouraging words to you.
Despite all the supply chain issues around the world, Santa and his team have everything under control. But he has had to be a bit creative this year and has also expanded his army of secret Santas to make sure that folks will have a great Christmas and remember the truly important things in life.
Recently, I came across a story about how one of those secret Santas blessed Emily, an eighth-grader from Idaho. The past year has been a challenging year for Emily and her family. In the midst of grieving the death of their grandmother, the family lost their mom after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer.
Even though she is just 14, Emily stepped up to help care for her five younger siblings. And in doing so, she exemplified a spirit of grace and compassion that has inspired others in her community. And that’s why one of her best friends wrote a letter to a Secret Santa to let him know why Emily and her family would appreciate a visit.
Fortunately, there is a mysterious secret Santa in East Idaho who is quick to spring into action and make sure that as Santa’s Ambassador, he can get things done. This Secret Santa decided to give away $1 million to various members of the community this year, and Emily was one of the lucky recipients!
But since the key to being a secret Santa is to keep your identity secret, the secret Santa reached out to a local TV station and asked if they could deliver some gifts to Emily and her family – a whole bunch of gifts in the form of thousands of dollars worth of gift cards to restaurants, grocery and department stores, and the local Bed Bath & Beyond since Emily likes to cook.
In this video, the news team from the local TV station surprised Emily and her brother on their way home from school. They presented them with three boxes that were filled with gift cards. Their reaction is priceless as they look stunned and surprised. It’s almost as if they are wondering: “Is this really happening?” And then you see them trying to process what it feels like to be the recipient of such a kind and generous deed.
In reading the story, I recognized that one of the themes that we have highlighted in a couple of these Words of Encouragement are the words that come from the Book of Acts that it is “more blessed to give than receive.” One of the reasons these stories resonate with me is because it reminds me that growing up my mom and her sister, my aunt Eleanor, had a special skill.
Specifically, whenever I gave them a gift they would make me feel like a champion. It didn’t matter how much it cost or how it was wrapped, they always made me feel like I had mysteriously and wondrously figured out exactly what they were looking for. In fact, on my nightstand, I have a little statue of St. Anthony that I gave to my mom when I was seven or eight years old. I think it cost me less than two dollars at the local store. But the reason I have it there is because I never forgot that when I gave it to my mom, it was as if the Pope himself had personally blessed that statue for her.
So as we get ready for Christmas, perhaps there will be opportunities for us to be one of Santa’s Ambassadors by spreading good cheer this Holiday season. It may not require a physical gift. Perhaps that good cheer can come in the form of a phone call, handwritten note, or for the more technologically inclined, a text message or nice email that lets a friend or family member know that they are loved and appreciated.