I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
– Matthew 28:20 (NKJV)
Does anyone else feel like a kid again watching eight-year-old Kevin wake up Home Alone in his house at Christmas? “I made my family disappear,” he boasts with an iconic eyebrow raise. As the new man of the house, Kevin shaves (insert aftershave scream here) and heads to the store on his own. When Kevin is buying a toothbrush, he looks up to see old man Marley—his neighbor rumored to be a snow shovel murderer. Running from him, Kevin accidentally steals the toothbrush he has in hand.
ON ALERT
Walking home, Kevin laments that he’s a criminal. He’s so distracted, he crosses in front of a van, causing it to slam to a halt. When the “Wet Bandits” Harry and Marv caution Kevin to be careful from their van, Kevin recognizes Harry’s gold tooth, and realizes he was at his house earlier, posing as a policeman. They’ve cased his house! Kevin runs home and vows to be ready if they come back.
Slowly, Kevin overcomes his fears, like the furnace in the basement, and at church early on Christmas Eve, he spots Marley. Yet, Marley simply says… “Merry Christmas.” As the choir sings O Holy Night, reminding us Who this season is truly about, Marley initiates a profound conversation.
FACE YOUR FEARS
Kevin confesses he hasn’t been a very good boy this year and said some things he shouldn’t have. He loves his family, but sometimes says he doesn’t, or even thinks he doesn’t. “How you feel about your family is a complicated thing,” Marley says. He confesses he came to his granddaughter’s choir practice to see her because he isn’t welcome around his son. When Marley admits he’s afraid to try to reconcile, Kevin shares how he overcame his own fear of the basement.
I’m still overcoming my own “basement,” but the same fear of the unknown. After several years of grief, including PTSD from Lyme disease, God placed an Unstoppable Growth coach in my life to ask how I could surrender that grief to the Lord. With their encouragement and God’s presence, I didn’t have to face the basement alone. God brought me into the daylight, and walked me through the green grass, which, for a Lyme warrior, was literally what I was most afraid of! When we face our fears, like Kevin telling Marley to call his son, “Then you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
ALWAYS WITH YOU
Full of courage, Kevin runs home to execute his plan against the Wet Bandits. With blowtorch, nail on the stairs, and tar and feathers in place, Kevin looks directly at the camera and says, “This is it. Don’t get scared now.”
It’s fitting when Harry and Marv take Kevin captive after a long, slapstick battle, Marley is the one to rescue him, and on Christmas morning, Kevin happily wakes up to his Mom and the rest of his family returning home.
In Matthew 28:20, Jesus said, “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” He promised to never leave us home alone, giving us the company of the Holy Spirit and the family of the Church—people who might not always be who you initially expect, like Marley, but can make a significant impact on your life. Though fear might come, may we rest in knowing Jesus’s presence is always with us. That’s the essence of Christmas.
Reflect: How can you become more aware of Jesus’s presence this Christmas season?
