Dec
21
2015

Sometimes The Answer Is No

Posted in Christmas | Leave a comment

When I was a little girl, you waited for the Christmas specials to come on TV.
They were only shown once during the season.
You had to look in the TV Guide to find out when your favorites would be shown.
That’s the way it was in the days of three channel TV.

Eventually, a few other stations were added.
However anything of any significance was shown on CBS, ABC, or NBC.
You waited patiently for Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.
Then there were the favorite movies that needed to be watched.

White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, and It’s A Wonderful Life topped the list.
It was unheard of to be able to watch a Christmas special more than once.
When I had children of my own, we had a VCR and many VHS tapes.
Now those same Christmas shows that I waited for could be seen over and over again.

One Christmas special aired when my children were small.
It featured Jim Henson’s Muppets along with a few new characters.
It was simply called, The Christmas Toy.
It soon became a family favorite with its wonderful story and songs.

When that Christmas special became available on VHS tape, I bought a copy.
The premise was that if a toy in the nursery was found out of place, it was frozen forever.
The nursery toys came to life each night when the children left the room.
It was a story premise that most everyone wondered about from time to time.

What do toys do when the children leave the room?
That theme has been the topic of many stories.
Each story has handled it a bit differently.
In the hands of Henson, the result was magical.

Each year, one toy became the favorite Christmas Toy of a little girl named, Jamie.
Her favorite toy was a bright orange Tiger named Rugby.
Rugby is so excited when an old, wise bear announces that is is Christmas Eve.
He is bound and determined to get downstairs and wrap himself up in one of the boxes.

He wants to be Jamie’s favorite Christmas Toy all over again.
Rugby’s friend, a doll named Apple, tries to explain that it doesn’t work that way.
She was Jamie’s favorite Christmas toy last year before Rugby came along.
He will have to understand that another toy will be the favorite Christmas Toy after him.

He refuses to believe it and heads off to the living room to place himself under the tree.
Chaos ensues when he opens the box he was in last year to find another toy.
It is a futuristic doll named Meteora, who comes to life when the lid of the box is opened.
She is loud and rude and the other toys are sure they will be caught and frozen forever.

It is a wonderful story that must be watched, since I don’t want to give anything away.
However, it was Meteora that caused all the problems.
My oldest daughter wanted a Meteora doll that Christmas.
The problem was, Meteora dolls did not exist.

That doll was on the top of her Christmas list.
She was so sure that like Jamie, a Meteora doll would be under the Christmas tree.
I tried to find the doll.
I even called Henson Associates in New York to inquire about it.

I learned that none of The Christmas Toy characters would have licensed products.
There would be no Rugby Tiger or Apple doll in any store and surely, no Meteora.
The person knew that many children would be disappointed but the toys didn’t exist.
In the mind of my daughter, that doll did exist.

When she would talk about her Meteora doll, my husband and I would just look at each other.
Finally I decided that I would approach the subject gently.
The Christmas Toy is such a new movie, that perhaps a Meteora doll has not been made yet.
It may be that Meteora was just Jamie’s doll and not for any other little girls,
I told her.

There was no Meteora doll under the Christmas tree that year.
My daughter had been prepared for the NO ever so gently.
There were other gifts that were special to her that year.
She still remembers how much she wanted that doll.

She will always follow that statement with: I can’t believe they never made those toys.
Sometimes, I can’t believe they never made those toys either.
But it was a different time all those years ago.
It was not all about making money by selling every conceivable product when a movie came out.

There was a small selection of merchandise for certain things.
That small selection made it more special.
There was a lesson to be learned about needs and wants.
There was a lesson to be learned about things we desire and can’t have.

There are always teachable moments.
There are object lessons all around us.
We as parents like to give gifts to our children.
But we can’t always get them everything they want and sometimes we have to say, NO.

There is a lesson in the NO just as much as there is a lesson in the YES.
Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the gift is impossible to give.
We want to give good gifts to our children.
We want to do the little things that bring a smile to their face.

If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! (Luke 11:13)

Sometimes even God the Father says, NO.
Tim Keller says it best.
God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows.
We don’t know what God knows so we really don’t know what to ask for.

My daughter would not have asked for the Meteora doll if she knew what I knew.
My daughter would have put another toy on her list, if she had the information I had.
I had insight that she could not possibly have.
If all of that is true, then why do we struggle so with God?

God, in His infinite wisdom, knows what we need even before we even ask Him.
And yet we complain.
And yet we grumble.
And yet we accuse Him of not understanding.

God understands all too well.
His, NO, is for our benefit.
His, NO, is really a gift of grace.
We are under qualified for the job of God, Keller says.

We are.
We really are.
Especially in this season of anticipation, can we quiet ourselves with Hope and Trust?
Can we believe in the One who says, NO, for our good and His glory?

God is the Giver of all good gifts.
God’s, NO, is a good gift even if we can’t see it at the time.
We don’t know everything God knows; we don’t know even a little bit of what God knows.
God our Father really does know best.

Trust Him.

Whispers of His Movement and Whispers in Verse books are now available in paperback and e-book!

http://www.whispersofhismovement.com/book/

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