During the Thanksgiving weekend, my family and I went to the movies to see “The Rise of The Guardians.” Now just in case you’ve neither seen nor heard of the film, it’s a purely fanciful tale that features a cast of “mythical beings” (Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy and so on) who have been charged with the responsibility of being “Guardians” for the world’s children. Whenever the hope and wonder and joy of childhood are threatened, The Guardians spring into action.

Now I won’t even attempt a review of the film, which has plenty of flaws (although it’s also completely harmless, and – as is often the case with kids’ movies these days – the animation is fantastic). But I mention it in order to say that this film unexpectedly moved me to tears, and – in a funny way – helped prepare my heart for Christmas.

While trying not to give away too much, I’ll share that the story revolves around “The Bogeyman” (who is attempting to plunge the world’s children into a new age of hopelessness and fear) and “Jack Frost” (who has just been added to “The Guardians” to help stop him). Part of the tension in the plot comes from the fact that The Bogeyman has found away to make children stop believing in The Guardians, which robs them of their power. As is often the case in good stories, evil appears to have the upper hand. We reach the point that there remains only one child who believes…one tiny point of light against an ocean of darkness. But through the power of that belief – and the power of an act of self-sacrifice – The Bogeyman is defeated…and the darkness into which he aimed to plunge the world is transformed into a joyful and wonder-full light.

Sitting here writing about it, it’s hard for me to say what it was about the film that moved me. Maybe that’s just what happens when one of your frequent prayers is that God would more and more break your heart with the things that break His. But part of it, I think, is that I do see so much darkness in the world. Unlike some of my other “Baptist preacher brethren,” I tend not to localize that darkness in “them” (where “them” is shorthand for the enemy-du-jour: the lib’rals, or the gays, or the Chinese, or the pro-choice crowd, or…well, I think you get the idea). No, I tend to think the darkness is a whole lot closer to home and a whole lot more intricately woven into every human heart. I think the darkness is the division and partisanship that prevents us from truly listening to each other. It’s the lust for vengeance that keeps nations fighting each other, even when the battle is killing them both. The darkness is the subtle sense of dissatisfaction (stoked, of course, by endless streams of “Holiday Sale” ads) that makes us want the “newer” and “bigger” and “better” when we already have so much. There are other shadows, of course, that I perceive in the darkness. What do you see there?

Still…no matter how pervasive and powerful the darkness seems to be, the thing that gives me hope and moves me to tears is the realization that even one tiny point of light can beat back the darkness. The power of belief – and the power of self-sacrifice – can transform even the encroaching gloom of defeat into the joyful and wonder-full light of victory. But from where will that light and belief and sacrifice come? The fact is: it won’t come from us. If it could, we’d have conquered the darkness by now.

Thankfully, the Christmas Story reminds us that the light we need comes to us in the child of Bethlehem. “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5). And while I hope that my Advent thoughts about this light won’t leave me walking around in a constant state of tears…I do pray that my heart will be constantly and tenderly open to The Light – that gives joy and wonder and that defeats the darkness…even the darkness in me.

May THE Guardian – the Great Shepherd of the Sheep – guide you and protect you through this Advent season. And may you find some joyful tears along the way, as you contemplate the gift that comes to us through Him.