Forgiveness requires faith
What Buddy the Elf can teach you about Jesus
Photo by Oliver Sharp on Unsplash
Christmas time brings out the best of holiday movies. The classics range from Home Alone, It’s A Wonderful Life, Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and Elf. Speaking of Elf, do you not just love Buddy?! He’s so fun and brings a bit of innocence to the holiday stress.
One of my favorite scenes in Elf is when Buddy is in the department store and they announce over the speaker that Santa will be in the store the following day. Buddy screams “Santa” as if he had just won the lottery. He continues to proclaim, “Santa”, “Santa is coming” and then screams “I know him!”
Buddy soon learns the store, in his opinion, was not properly prepared for the arrival of Santa. He spends all night decorating, perfecting lights, making sure al the details of decor and holiday spirit are radiating throughout the store in expectation of Santa’s arrival.
I wonder how many times we get this excited about Jesus. If someone announced that Jesus was coming the very next day to your place of work, would you be so excited as to proclaim “I know Him” and go above the expected normal duties to make sure Jesus feels welcomed? What about when Jesus comes back for His Church? Are we making preparations now for when Jesus comes and we can proclaim “I know Him!”?
We become so complacent in our daily routine that we miss Jesus. The worship of the Lord, the relationship we claim to have, and our relationship with Christ is nothing more than a familiarity similar to knowing the local barista at our favorite coffee shop. We know Jesus comes to greet us during each Mass. Do we really believe He comes to meet us?
We know Jesus is in the adoration chapel. Do we get so excited that we go beyond our normal convenience of daily schedule and make a point to spend some time with Him in adoration?
Buddy shows us how we should be responding to Jesus by the way He responds to Santa. What happens when Buddy sees the department store’s “Santa” and he is fake. Buddy recognizes him immediately as a fake. He points out that he is an imposter and he is not Santa.
How many times have we believed something was of Christ when it was fake? How many times have we fallen for a facade created by Hell because we could not recognize Jesus?
Buddy knew it was not Santa because He truly had a real relationship with the legitimate Santa. Perhaps we need to evaluate our own relationship with Jesus and ask ourselves if we could recognize Jesus as strongly and easily as Buddy recognized it was not the real Santa.
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About the Author
Amelia Monroe Carlson graduated from the University of North Alabama with a Bachelor’s Degree in journalism. Being raised as a Methodist during her early years, it was not until she entered college where she began to take her faith seriously. She was baptized as a Southern Baptist in Muscle Shoals, AL and began immediately serving in international missions and in the church.
During college, she became the Co-founder of an International Ministry, where she spent time traveling and speaking to church groups and in large conferences. She authored a Bible study and traveled abroad on mission work. She sat on the Mid-South Interfaith Conferences in Mississippi, where she defended the faith and discussed beliefs with leaders of various religions.
After a business trip to Washington D.C., where she was introduced to a former Baptist who converted to the Catholic Church, she was placed on a journey to enter into the Catholic Church.
Amelia is a military wife and currently residents with her husband and daughter in Tennessee. She is a nine time award winning journalist, receiving press awards for various categories including investigative journalism, best news coverage, and best single feature. It is her desire to help Catholics, particularly Cradle Catholics, see the beauty in their faith which converts see and appreciate the fullness of truth which the Church has held and guarded throughout history. It is her desire all Catholics fall as much in love with Jesus as she is, and love the Church to a greater capacity than they could imagine.
Amelia taught PRE for 4-6 grade at St. Mary Catholic Church in Bolivar, Tennessee from 2014-2016. She served as Youth Director at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Somerville, Tennessee in 2017-2018. She now teaches 7th grade (1st year Confirmation) PRE class at St. Philip. She's also a writer and frequent podcast guest on Our Warpath.
She has a strong devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Francis de Sales, St. Padre Pio and St. Maximilian Kolbe.
To contact Amelia for speaking inquiries at conferences, retreats, or parishes contact her via social media on Facebook (Amelia Monroe Carlson), Twitter (@2_catholic ) or send a text to: (731)518-6923.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ameliamcarlson
Twitter: @2_catholic (Catholic ministry account)
Twitter personal account: @ameliamcarlson
