If You Just Believe...

As Christmas swings around, everyone returns to examine that funny thing called belief again. Including me. It’s one of the most extraordinary things in this world, you know. The simple conviction that something is, or can happen, is what achieves the most amazing things. Without belief in one’s abilities, without belief in good and right, the world wouldn’t be the way it is, and it would be so much worse for it.

Mainly, though, aside from the belief in what you can do, what you can achieve, that lets us create what we can, it’s belief that brings us through tough times. Even if it’s not belief in a higher power, as it often is, and which is powerful in its own way for it, it’s the belief that there are good times ahead, that there’s a sun behind the dark storm clouds, that gives strength and hope beyond what you think can be done.

At times we lose this belief. We stand there under the storm and wonder why we even try. But you have to believe that there really is a light behind the darkness. Because there always is…they who lived long ago in the darkest of times, could they but see where we’ve gotten to they would be stunned, to think that their world could turn into ours. Life goes on. The story goes on. Stories never end…we’re all part of the same one that’s been going on since the beginning of time, the story of our world and our people and our pains and our triumphs. If we could step out of the world and take a look at time flowing by, we’d see that the problems we think are so desperate are really just little wrinkles in the great flow and weave of the pattern of life, fate, and time. We have to be able to step back and realize this, and feel our belief pulsing through us again.

And that’s why we return to the strength of hope and mind every time this year. We look around and we see happy people, joyful celebrations, and they’re more than just a celebration of your religion—they’re also a celebration of life, and the happiness that always exists somewhere, and of hope and love. We take joy in the season, of giving to each other, of returning to this happy time each year, in part because it renews our belief that there are good times after the sad times, that we won’t always be fighting, and that there’s a little something around the corner to make us happy.

So remember to believe. It’s belief that gives us strength, the conviction of something else that we can’t always see. In the dark, try and remember the light that you’ve seen so many times. Because it’s real, and it’s good, and it’s beautiful. If you can believe, you can wipe away the tears, uncover the windows, and let the real light within stream out. Only when you believe can you really live.