Frosty the Snow-Me

Nothing says “welcome home baby Jesus” like a confused singing snow man who comes to life every time some kids put a magic top hat on him.

Well, too be honest I never really got the connection either. I mean I was cool with watching the original 1969 Frosty movie every other Christmas season but I drew the line at “Frosty’s Winter Wonderland,” “Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July,” and “Frosty Returns.” I just did not see the potential in a singing ball of snow for an epic movie saga. This year however, I have come to the conclusion that Frosty the Snowman is a key player in this whole Christmas story; even more than George Bailey, Clark Griswold, little Ralphie, and Tiny Tim.

No, Frosty was not there that night in a stable in Bethlehem when the real reason for Christmas was born, but neither were the Wise Men you have in your nativity scene if you want to get technical. Frosty was not there when God came to Earth to live as a human being, but neither was I and we have that in common. Apparently, that is not the only thing we have in common. Frosty and I? We go way back.

For one thing, neither of us chose to exist. Frosty was a bunch of snow until some neighborhood kids rolled him up one day and gave him a corncob pipe, a button nose, two eyes made of coal and a magic hat. I was a bunch of dust until God rolled me up and breathed life into me. The difference is that Frosty never once forgot where his life came from and I sometimes do. Frosty never forgot that his life was connected to what sat on his head and that without it he was just some big balls of snow.  I sometimes forget that I came from a big pile of dry bones.

Way before Frosty and even before little baby Jesus was a man named Ezekiel who sang about how I came to life one day in chapter 37 of his book of prophecy. God gave him a vision of a valley filled with dry bones with no life left in them. God told Ezekiel to proclaim to this big pile of skeletons that God wanted to bring these bones back to life. Suddenly bones start attaching themselves to each other with ligaments and tendons that appeared out of nowhere. Flesh began to grow and God breathed life back into them.  And then they were alive.

My life comes only from the revelation and inspiration of God breathing life into me every day. Frosty had a magic top hat, I have a helmet. In the armor of God, the helmet represents salvation. Helmets and top hats, as I am sure you are aware, go on top of your head, which is where your thoughts happen to live. I do not think it is a coincidence that Paul says that the thing guarding our thoughts should be salvation. This means that every thought that enters into our noggin should come through the filter of the fact that we have been given new life in Christ. Everything we think about our self, our world, our job and our life should be thought of in light of what Jesus did for us first in the cradle and then on the cross. That sounds really cheesy and easy to forget.

The problem is that sometimes I take off my hat. I live my life like I can do it all by myself. I live as if a day without the presence of God being poured into my life won’t change who I am. I see life through my eyes made out of coal and my relationship with God just becomes a set of beliefs and not something I am dependent on for life. I am not talking about denouncing my faith and running away from God, just living life without Him. I can go throughout my whole day and forget that I need God inside of me to survive. When He isn’t here I start to melt very quickly. Melting is good, though, because it reminds me that nothing I do on my own strength could ever amount to anything worthwhile. Melting reminds me of where I could have been headed if God did not step in and take the place I deserved when He chose to die for the things I did wrong. Melting reminds me that life on my own in short and meaningless like a snow ball.

I grew up watching a show about an Aardvark named Arthur who had a sister named D.W. She had this idea that she could save her first snow ball in the freezer until the next winter. It worked for a while until one day somebody accidently left the freezer door open and everything melted. All her hopes and plans were ruined and she had nothing to show for them. Your life is a snowball, snowballing out of control.

Life without God is like being a human snow ball. As Churchy as that sounds, somebody will leave the freezer door in your life open and everything will come crashing down at once. Life will start melting before your eyes and you will be left with nothing to show for it. Let your life mean something. Let God turn you into a living breathing human being that can bring joy to other people. Real life is possible for you no matter what you have done or what has been done to you. You may feel like your life is melting right now and that everything you do turns out for the worst. Everything in your life feels broken. You think it is God playing some cosmic joke on you when really He is letting you see for the first time just how much you need Him to survive.

Put on the hat of salvation and let today be your “Happy Birthday.” Forget what all the movies say, the real meaning of Christmas is you experiencing real life, the kind you can only live when the God who created the Universe lives inside of you.