The Proof Is In The Letter

My mother had such a unique way of displaying Christmas cards.
She would wait until she had quite a lot and get out the red ribbon.
She cut graduated lengths of ribbon and began with the longest one.
She opened the cards and placed the ribbon in the crease.

She would tape the ribbon to the card.
She carefully chose cards according to color and shape.
It made a beautiful visual display.
She took the top end of the ribbon and tied it to the banister.

When she was done, we had long chains of cards going down the staircase.
I continued to do that in two of my homes.
I am unable to do that in this home since we have a turned staircase.
However, I remember fondly the Christmas cards as part of our decorations.

I used to love to sit on the staircase as a little girl and hide behind the cards.
Of course my mother pretended that she had no idea where I was.
I used to try to remember who sent each card once I learned to read.
I could point to a card, think of the sender and see if I was right when I looked inside.

I still love to get Christmas cards.
I enjoy the picture cards so I can see how children are growing from year to year.
I enjoy reading the personal notes and the letters that people send to me.
There is something wonderful about getting mail, opening an envelope, and reading.

I had a card in my mailbox that was put there by a neighbor.
It was addressed to our family, but got delivered to her by mistake.
She opened it with the rest of her mail.
Once realizing that it did not belong to her, she put it in our mailbox with an apology.

Thought it was ours. Sorry.
An easy mistake.
You get on a roll this time of year.
You open so many cards at once.

It got me thinking about the personal touch of a card.
Though the sentiment may be the same, the sender and the greeting are unique.
The Merry Christmas greeting could have been for either of us.
The letter inside meant nothing to her, since she did not know the person who sent it.

Immediately, I knew who it was; I was interested in their news, I liked their picture.
I thought of the sheer volume of mail that our post office has to handle this time of year.
That more mistakes do not happen is a miracle in itself.
It is an efficient system that we have come to rely on.

In Miracle on 34th Street, Fred Gailey reads from the World Almanac.
He is trying to establish the professional and expert nature of the post office.
He sets out to prove that Kris Kringle who is on trial is indeed Santa Claus.

The post office department was created by the Second Continental Congress on July 26, 1776. The first postmaster general was Benjamin Franklin. The post office department is one of the largest business concerns in the world…(Taken from Miracle on 34th Street)

Gailey goes on to reference a federal statute that makes mail fraud a crime.
The children send letters to Santa.
The post office delivers them.
In the movie they are delivered to Kris Kringle, the man on trial for claiming he is Santa.

The judge has to declare that Kris Kringle is indeed Santa Claus.
The ruling has to come down in his favor since the letters were officially delivered to him.
Gailey was clever in his defense of Kris.
Just when he thought there was no way to prove otherwise, an answer was given.

One letter delivered to the right recipient can be happenstance.
Many letters, bags of letters delivered to Kris Kringle legitimized his claim.
He was who he said he was, the judge concluded.
There was proof, though a bit circumstantial to be sure.

Many unbelievers and skeptics ask for proof that God exists.
If God is good, why is there suffering and evil in this world?
I have prayed and prayed for _____ and I get no answer.
God doesn’t listen to my prayers.

It’s as if they feel that their prayers go to a dead letter office.
They are frustrated in the waiting.
The problem is with God, they assume.
He can’t or worse, He won’t answer me.

It’s as if God is on trial.
If He doesn’t measure up to our expectations or our timeline then He doesn’t exist.
If He exists, then He is incapable of helping me.
If He is capable of helping me, but help never comes, then He doesn’t want to help me.

All of these reactions are as result of frustration and sometimes despair.
They are never the result of a God who is unloving or uninvolved.
We cannot see the whole picture as God sees it.
We do not realize that often He is protecting us from something that we cannot imagine.

He knows what is best for us.
He know when it is best for us.
We have to trust Him.
There is no dead letter office where our prayers remain unanswered.

Our prayers reach the ears and the heart of a loving Father.
A loving Father who is moved by our prayers.
A loving Father who always answers prayers, though not always the way we want.
A loving Father who wants us to come to Him and talk to Him in prayer.

Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3)

In His time and in His way God answers prayer.
We don’t need the proof of a postal system to tell us that.
We have all the proof we need in the letter He did send us.
God sent us His Son, the Word made flesh, the most perfect Letter there is.