Deflated Inflatables

I did a double take.
Was that someone hanging from the roof?
I was driving and could not safely turn in the direction of the hanging object.
The cars slowed down a bit in front of me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see red, lots of red.
I slowed down enough to see Santa.
A very limp, lifeless Santa.
An inflatable Santa that had lost its air.

This is the time of year when you see them all over people’s lawns.
Inflatable characters, snow globes, gingerbread houses, and reindeer.
They look one way in the evening, when they are inflated and illuminated.
They look quite another when no air is inside and they are deflated on the ground.

This Christmas inflatable was not on the ground.
This Christmas inflatable was hanging from the rain gutter.
I tried to imagine what it would look like when it was inflated.
I tried to imagine what a small child would think as they passed by.

I needed to drive down the same road that evening.
I had almost forgotten about the Santa.
I noticed the house from a distance.
Every tree was wrapped with red and white lights resembling a candy cane.

The old stone house was tastefully decorated.
Candles were in every window.
Fresh greens were placed on each windowsill.
A large wreath was on the front door.

But then, in a bit of whimsy, the inflatable Santa was hanging from the corner of the roof.
Seeing the house all illuminated, I was beginning to understand.
Now inflated with air from some outside source, Santa appeared to be falling off the roof.
I still wondered what a little child would say as they passed the house.

Inflated and hanging precariously off the roof, it made me smile.
A little bit of whimsy is good.
A little bit of unpredictability keeps everything fresh.
The personality of the homeowner comes through.

We do not have any Christmas inflatables on our lawn.
When I see Christmas inflatables at the store, I am intrigued.
Some of them depict a Christmas theme.
Others, I am not so sure.

I saw a lot of Star Wars inflatables this Christmas season.
Some even had the sound that Darth Vader makes as he breathes heavily behind his mask.
I don’t understand what that has to do with Christmas but people were buying them.
I saw quite a few Snoopy inflatables, realizing that A Charlie Brown Christmas is classic.

Everywhere I went, the inflatables were inflated.
The stores know that if the inflatable hangs limp, no one would buy it.
No one would be able to envision that particular inflatable on their lawn.
The whir of the air blowers was deafening.

There is something sad about deflated inflatables.
There is something unnatural with the limp nylon fabric lying across the lawn.
There is something about the silence when the air blower is turned off.
What was whimsical now becomes almost grotesque as it is flattened on the lawn.

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O, Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” Then he said to me, “Prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophecy to the breath; prophecy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’ ” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet – a vast army. (Ezekiel 37:1-10)

We are created in the image of God.
God breathed into each of us and we became alive.
Every breath you breathe is a gift from God.
Every one.

However, there is another breath that must fill us.
The Breath of the Spirit.
The zephyr of faith that blows into us and makes us alive in Christ.
Without the Breath of the Spirit we are dead in our transgressions and sins.

Without the Breath of the Spirit we cannot have the faith to believe.
Without the Breath of the Spirit we are like those deflated inflatables.
Without the Breath of the Spirit we lie there limp, lifeless, unable to do anything on our own.

The deflated Santa hanging off the roof is really correct.
We hang there, trying to hold on by ourselves.
We are almost slipping.
Our fingertips are red from the tight grip.

We look up.
We are barely holding on.
We have no strength on our own.
All at once we feel that Breath.

We are not lifeless any more.
We have strength that we never had before.
We see that we are holding on to a nail-scarred Hand.
We hold on tight and never let go.

We are not lifeless any more.
We are filled with the Breath of His Spirit.
We are alive.
We are indeed alive.

I will never look at Christmas inflatables in the same way ever again.
What an example of our salvation.
Are you lifeless, lying limp as you strive to do things on your own?
Or are you filled with the life-giving Breath of His Spirit?

To God the Spirit’s name
Immortal worship give,
Whose new-creating power
Makes the dead sinner live.
His work completes the great design,
And fills the soul with joy divine.

(We Give Immortal Praise, by Isaac Watts)