Last year, Susy and I were coming home from the gym and the grocery store during the Christmas season. We were joyfully singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Susy is the talented singer in our family who sang in a rock band for 25 years. She has a wonderful voice. Me, not so much. I am the thinker/philosopher who these days gets great joy out of spotting strengths in others. It occurred to me as we finished this Christmas Classic, what a great strengths message this fun carol sends us all, if we are awake to it.
"You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen.,
But do you recall
The most famous reindeer of all?
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it,
You could even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names;
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say:
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeer loved him
As they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
You'll go down in history."
Like Rudolph, we all have some special mission to serve in the world. And like Rudolph, we all have some strength that causes us to shine in that work. Some of us have been teased, put down, or excluded for that quality. Like Rudolph, each of us has a season, or as Winston Churchill wrote: “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents.” Often it’s a problem you were meant to solve or participate in solving. Maybe this is your season, your time to acknowledge your special gift, that special thing you add to the team. Perhaps like Mary, over 2000 years ago, something is quickening inside you. Maybe you are being nudged to participate in some task God has set aside just for you. Merry Christmas!
