For as long as she can remember, Katie Grace’s best friend has been Snoopy; he may be Charlie Brown’s dog, but K.G. has wagged him around by his tail for as long as, well, as long as she can remember.
K.G.’s Snoopy doubles as a purse. He sleeps with her, travels with her, goes to church with her, in fact he goes everywhere her Mom allows. When she is separated from her purse/doll/dog, she practically suffers separation anxiety...and if he is temporarily lost, there is no thought of a replacement. There’s just one Snoopy. Period. Make that an EXPLANATION POINT!
...so recently, when Snoopy lost his tail, there was a period of grieving. Snoopy’s tail is especially important, since it doubles as the pull on his zipper which opens and closes him as a purse.
Katie and her mom have searched high and low for the missing tail, but to no avail. It would be impossible to replace Snoopy. On the other hand - uh, paw - a tail replacement might be acceptable. It would be a tail transplant, if you please. So Shannon has tried to figure out a way to perform such an operation. Racked her brain; asked Google; posed the question to hundreds of Facebook friends; run ads in the classifieds - all in vain. At this writing, they continue to grieve.
But Katie Grace has not lost hope. A few days, ago she jumped out of bed and ran to wake her mom with a revelation. “MOM!” She shouted, excitedly, “I’ve got it!”
“Got what, Baby? Snoopy’s tail?”
“No, Mom! But I know how to get it. I asked Santa to bring him a new tail for Christmas.”
Can you imagine the expression on Shannon’s face at that moment? It must have been priceless.
Frankly, I’m a bit skeptical concerning Saint Nicholas’s ability to make this wish come true, but I can’t help smiling and appreciating the innocent hopes of a 7-year-old. She loves Snoopy. She loves her dolls. Thankfully, she also loves her family and friends, and almost everyone else she knows or happens to meet. And she has faith in someone she has never actually seen.
We could learn a lot from that precious child. Certainly we need to direct our faith and hope to a different source than Santa. We should, instead, trust in God as our Divine Provider, but we should be inspired to trust the One who promised to supply all our needs. He did not promise to provide everything we want or desire, but He did promise to provide everything we need, according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, and He knows better than we what we truly need.
In the third chapter of Colossians, we are reminded that He (God, not Santa) has the power to do abundantly more than we can ask or even imagine and that He is deserving of all glory - forever. Looking toward Christmas, let us give thanks for the greatest gift of all, the gift that only He could give, the gift of His Son.
Steve Playl, a retired pastor and chaplain, columnist and college instructor, may be reached at playlsr@yahoo.com
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