What are your favorite Christmas movies? It's a Wonderful Life is a personal favorite. My daughter loves Home Alone and my husband usually chooses The Polar Express. Last year I added the movie Klaus to our must sees.
Regardless, the various depictions of A Christmas Carol are mandatory. Rob and my mother both go for the hilarious Bill Murray's Scrooged. As someone whose second language was English and who grew up outside of Pittsburgh, all things Sesame Street have my heart. A Muppet Christmas Carol is like my Christmas movie spirit animal with A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey as a close second.
Charles Dickens' instant bestseller from 1843 portrays a narrative we sill find uncomfortable today. To correct behaviors, one must heal the person which involves addressing memories and wounds from the past. This truth hit mainstream popular culture 180 years ago but we still try to avoid the personal implications.
Why do we shy away from this transformative work? It played out so redemptively for Ebenezer.
Just as in Dickens’ script, love and charity are not enough to transform. Scrooge's nephew, Fred, offers him love and acceptance without anything in return but it is not enough to persuade the bitter old man. Then the “pair of portly gentlemen” who raised funds for the poor informed him of the less than humane living conditions of others, to no avail.
Only once the protagonist is willing, prompted by the supernatural, to embark on a journey of self-discovery does change take place.
Dickens’ genius is that as the cold-hearted miser reflects we, the reader, develop a level of empathy for the greedy slumlord. If such a man can evoke affinity, how much more can we have sympathy for our younger selves?
Once we begin to see the neglected child shaped by a lack of love, we are carried to a time of accountability. Scrooge's lack of warmth towards his nephew, mistreatment of his clerk, and own chilling words toward the poor bring him to the present.
What an accurate depiction of inner healing. We must have understanding and compassion for our inner child while holding our current selves accountable to right and wrong. The first step is just that, not the destination.
A major part of my attachment healing was going back to where attachment was initially broken. My first three years of life were filled with dramatic separations due to divorce. My immigrant father feared he would lose custody and fled to Mexico with me for two years; and then my mother regained custody which separated me from my father’s side of the family with whom I had bonded.
Unbeknownst to me, I needed to reunite with my father and his side of the family in order to be able to feel and accept love. When I was three and taken from the family I knew my heart broke; going back to Mexico was the healing balm I needed in order to begin to feel love again.
Not everyone gets the privilege of reunification. Biblical Joseph and Daniel were dreamers who were taken from their families of origin and suffered under tyrannical rule. Yet, clearly God was with the two men and blessed them each. They were elevated to positions of prominence, had insight into the future, and received love. Joseph’s love came from his wife and children, while Daniel found love among his peers. The stark difference is that part of God’s redemptive plan for Joseph was to reunite with his family of origin; a family reunion could not be in Daniel’s case as Nebuchadnezzar’s military campaigns probably proved deadly for Daniel’s parents.
What I love about A Christmas Carol is that the tale illustrates for us the power of the supernatural to make up for what is not naturally possible. In the story, spiritual encounters are the prompting of transformation as well as the means.
What are some past events that need to be revisited in your life? Will you ask the Lord for supernatural healing and guidance?
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