Christmas Eve. As a child there is such magic in the air in anticipation of what is to come in the morning. We perpetuate the story of Santa Claus because we love that same feeling, for children and for ourselves. Why? Because it stirs something deep, wonderful and beautiful inside.
Later in life we learn the unreality of it all, and something diminishes inside. That is until we see the wide eyed wonder in a child in anticipation of the magic. What is it in us that so yearns for magic? It is the intuitive faculty within that yearns for God.
God is that feeling of magic, of charm, of an open field of possibilities, and of joy and love. To feel the openness of anticipation means a beautiful world of splendor awaits us. Being overly mindful of the “realism” of life kills in us this awareness, it removes the childlike wonder.
Jesus said that children are blessed, because a childlike nature is part of entering into heaven. The Master actually thanks God for not revealing heaven to the intellectual and prideful, but rather to the childlike in spirit. Jesus and his disciples were living in a tough existence, he was no starry eyed dreamer, his world could scarce afford that. Rather, his affirmation of innocence as necessary is a statement of a tremendous truth. We must be open to wonder; to the incredible beauty in which we can look at a lily of the field and find greatness.
Some may scoff at such words, but this cynical mindset is exactly what Jesus was thanking God for leaving in ignorance. Blessed are the children, of all ages, for such is the kingdom of heaven.
I am sitting to meditate on Christmas Eve, and I sit in wonder, anticipation of untold possibilities, of magic in the air; for such is the kingdom of God.