Happiness is a Warm Blanket

Here is the email that I sent to my pastor, Scott, after a particularly inspiring evening on my couch watching Charlie Brown:

I just caught the end of the Charlie Brown movie, "Happiness is a Warm Blanket," and thought of the recent sermons and finding our security in Christ. In the Peanuts movie, Linus' grandmother disapproves of Linus' security blanket, and the gang tries to wean him from it, partly out of preparation for Grandma's impending visit. They steal, hide, and even bury the blanket, but Linus always goes to great lengths to retrieve it; a quest culminating in his announcement that the blanket is his only real source of security, and asking rather Biblically, "who of you is secure? Who of you can cast the first stone?"

When Grandma makes her dreaded visit, she demands that Linus hand over the blanket. Prepared for this moment, he hands her a dish towel. The story closes with Linus saying, "I need my blanket. I fooled her with a dish towel decoy. My blanket is my security."

How often do we try to fool God with a dish towel decoy? God, like grandma, asks us to relinquish our blankets. But unlike Grandma, who only offers in its place judgments about little boys and their blankets, Christ offers us real security- that cannot be stolen or buried - and not judgment but fully unconditional love. The trick is, we have to trust Him enough to give up the blanket. Because we cannot hold both our blankets and His hand at the same time.

Deep thoughts with Charlie Brown. :)


And a new thought, for this Christmas... The Littlest Angel is on a quest to bring an appropriate gift to Christ. The wise men and all others brought their gift - I guess or instinctive response to love, and grace, is to somehow try to repay the debt, to give tangibility to our gratitude. While we cannot earn grace, its sole precondition is that we accept it. Along this theme, to accept it, we must let go of our blankets and hold His hand. What better time than Christmas?

Merry Christmas!