Most people stop believing in Santa by the time they are in middle school. We’re pre-teenagers that are too cool for those “childish” ideas and we crave being older and more mature and being included in the adult world. But in my last two years of being a teenager I have come to find the importance of holding on to the magic that the idea of Santa brings along. I’ve always been a Christmas person and I know I always will be, but in all honesty, I did fall down the path of “I’m too cool to even think Santa exists.” At least, that was the act I put on around my friends, but I still rushed home to make sure I didn’t miss the Rudolph movies that came on. I just thought Santa was a story made up to get kids excited, but I’ve come to realize that it’s so much more than that.

Believing in Santa means believing in the unseen. It means believing in the good in this world, even though it isn’t something we come across every day. I believe that Santa is a metaphor for our belief in God and His work in our lives. It’s a magical bit of faith that warms the heart to know you truly believe. Trusting in God fully is hard though, because “we can’t see Him.” But we can. We can see God and His magic and glory all over the place. We see it the moment we wake up, when we open our eyes and see the world when our alarm goes off, or when we hear the sound of cars beeping and coffee machines grinding and phones ringing, because it means we are alive. That is a gift that we receive every day because we’ve woken up every single day. We see God when the sun shines and when the rain falls and waters the flowers because God wants to make sure they don’t die. And we hear God speak when someone says, “I love you” or “Call me to let me know you're safe” or even when someone says “How are you today.” God works in our lives every day but we don’t “see” Him just like we don’t “see” Santa. But if we stop believing in Santa then how can we believe in the magic of God? We’ll just go through our days ignoring the fact that we woke up and ignoring the beautiful sounds of the earth.

So here’s why you need to believe in Santa. Because you need to hold on to as much magic as you possibly can in this cruel world. You need to be able to wake up and find the good and the pureness in everything, even if its leaking with cruelty. You need to have trust in the greater power because He is in control of your life, and He has a plan. You can’t ever lose the little bit of pixie dust that’s in your heart because at the end of the day, that’s what keeps you grounded. It’s not childish or silly, it’s hopeful and pure and encouraging. So don’t ever lose your faith in Santa, because believing in the things we cannot see are some of the best things to believe in.