SENTIENT TIMES Dec/Jan 2002

The Christmas Presence

By Peter Melton

So what do I want for Christmas this year? If I could have anything in the whole wide world, I would want God and Santa Claus to come to my house for a visit. The following is my wish come true, the transcripts of our conversation: GOD, SANTA and ME.

ME Oh my God, and Santa, you’re both here! In my living room! How did that happen? SANTA You asked for us and here we are. ME I guess I never figured I would actually see you … I mean, with my own eyes. This is a bit overwhelming. GOD Yes, we understand. We have to deal with this “it’s a bit overwhelming” issue all the time. Whenever we visit with someone, they are shocked, and even more shocked when I tell them about how I created old Saint Nick.

ME Wait, you created Santa Claus? GOD Yes, what is so hard to believe about that? I am the creator right? ME Well yes … but, you just created Santa Claus and sent him to us? GOD Yep, you just weren’t getting it, I wanted you to love yourselves and each other more, so I figured if I sent a reminder once a year, that that would help. SANTA Pretty cool huh? ME Can this be true? GOD Yes, and let me say that it is so refreshing that someone is finally figuring this all out. It’s been such a long time and we have given you so many clues. We thought that it would be easy for you. ME So many clues … what clues?

GOD Well the whole Christmas thing, it is full of clues. ME Like what? GOD First off, what do you think Santa looks like? ME Well, he’s an older man with a grey beard. GOD And what do you image I look like? ME I image you to be … a older grey-bearded man too, but not so … heavy. GOD So do you want some more clues? ME Yes, tell me some more of these so-called clues.

GOD OK, here’s a good one, what day of the year does Santa Claus come? ME On December 25th, of course. GOD Is this date meaningful, in any other way? ME Ah come on, you know, that is the day Jesus was born. GOD That is my point exactly! You see, I could have had him come on any day of the year, just so happened I picked that day? Isn’t that an interesting coincidence? SANTA OK, here’s another one, where do I live? ME At the North Pole, of course. SANTA What do you know about the North Pole. ME Well, I don’t know much about it, it’s a mystical place far, far away. GOD Have you ever been there? ME No one has ever been there. GOD Do you see how the clues tie together now? There is this old grey bearded man who looks like God, who does his thing on Jesus’s birthday and who lives in this far away mystical place that no one ever sees.

ME Oh … the North Pole is a representation of Heaven. GOD Exactly, but no one has ever been there because it and many other wonderful things exist outside of your known physical world. I couldn’t come right out and say that Santa Claus lived in Heaven, so I borrowed a few of the ideas that you have about Heaven and created the North Pole. Since you imagined Hell to be so hot, we thought Santa should live in a cold place. You imagine that there are angels in Heaven, so we took your angels and tweaked them a little bit—we took away the wings and harp, gave them pointy ears and called them elves, completing the heaven-like setting. ME This is amazing, it is all fitting together. Tell me more.

SANTA Are you ready for the biggest one of all? We used another one of your “ideas” about God, to build this “Santa story.” You think that God sits up in Heaven and watches your every move, so that he can more accurately judge you on what you call “Judgement Day,” so we put that in the story too. But instead of being judged at the end of your life, we made Christmas into an annual, end of the year, “Judgement Day.” The whole “he’s making a list, and checking it twice,” kind of thing.

ME So do you keep a naughty and nice list? Are you watching us day and night, judging whether or not we deserve to get Christmas presents? SANTA well that depends. ME depends on what? SANTA It depends on what you believe about me, let me explain. You see, what you call God is not the person you see there. You created this vision and that version of God in your image and likeness, based on what you believed about him. In the same way, what you call Santa Claus, is not the person you see here in front of you. You created this Santa, me, based on your perspective and beliefs about the myth we created called “Santa Claus.” So if you believe that we watch over you and judge you, then we do. It all depends on what you decide to believe.

ME Hey you just called yourself a myth! How can that be? And how are you able to get presents around to every house in the world in just one night? SANTA We will get to that delivering presents question later, but about myths, myths are real if you believe them and they are not real if you don’t believe them. Think about it, am I the same Santa Claus that you thought I was when you were 5 years old? ME No, you have changed a lot. SANTA Did I change or did you change your mind about me, who really did the changing here? ME I did, I guess, I changed you.

SANTA Right again, you decide who I am to you and that idea changes many times in your life. And you see, everyone else decides for themselves too. You see it works the same way with all of life. It is all a matter of what you believe and you can change that personal point of view anytime you choose. ME So I decide who you are and if you are real or not? GOD We are what you decide we are, to you. In this way, we are “make-believe” because you literally make us up with your beliefs.

ME Wait right there, so are you “for real” or “make believe?” GOD Are your beliefs real? ME Yes, they feel real. GOD Well then, we are made real by your beliefs about us. ME Wow, I’ve never thought of it that way.

SANTA Here, this might help too. If you only believe things you can verify with your physical senses, you miss out on so much. There is so much more than you’re known physical world. Here is a good example, is love for real? ME Yes, of course love is real. SANTA But you can’t see it or touch it, so how do you know it is real? ME I can feel it. SANTA Exactly, it is a feeling it is not a thing. So are feelings “for real?”

ME Hey, I think I see where you are going with this. You guys are not people to be seen with our physical senses, you are the feelings we each have, individually about you. And that is why everyone can have a different idea about you and about God. GOD You got it, so then are we “for real” or “make believe?” ME Both! You are both, I make you up with my beliefs and what I believe is real to me! GOD Exactly, so what do you believe?

ME I choose to make you real with my beliefs about you. I feel both of you inside of me and that feeling is real. SANTA Ah, you have got it, you have felt the Christmas Presence.

ME I get it, the Christmas gifts that Santa delivers, are not “presents” in pretty boxes, rather it is a Christmas “Presence,” a way of being, a belief, a feeling beyond the physical world, a feeling in my heart and soul. I want to share this feeling, I want to spread this loving presence, I want to play Santa Claus, I want to spread my “Christmas Presence” all over the world.

SANTA There you go, now you’re getting it, keep feeling like that and, with some practice, you might be able to deliver your Christmas Presence to every house in the world in just one night. Ho, Ho, Ho! ME Ah, so that is how you can do it all in one night, I can’t wait for Christmas to come! GOD You don’t have to wait for Christmas to share your Christmas “presence,” let your “presence” be your gift to the world, every day, all year long. ME Thank you both so much. SANTA Thanks for inviting us. GOD Yes, Thank you my son.

ME Will I ever see you again? GOD That is up to you. ME I know, I don’t need to see you, I can just feel your presence and know you are there. SANTA Come on now God, let’s go, I’ll give you a ride home.

ME And I heard them exclaim as they rode out of sight, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.”

The Beginning

Peter Melton lives in Ashland, Oregon with his wife Paula, 3 lovely kids, 2 black dogs and a partridge in a pear tree. Peter is the author and Paula illustrates inspirational stories they call Fables of Oneness. The expanded version of this fable is available as book and/or CD, call (541) 201-0085 for information.

SENTIENT TIMES
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