The Funny Thing About Trains (And Joy)

I somehow made it through my childhood without seeing The Polar Express. It’s one of my new favorites (although A Charlie Brown Christmas is still tops).

The Polar Express is an odd little movie—from the groundbreaking visuals to the whimsical storyline to the fact that Tom Hanks somehow manages to do half the voices. (I’m still trying to figure that one out.)

It’s a little bit of a mystical tale for children. Or maybe it’s children who understand it perfectly and me who doesn’t understand.

The journey begins with a boy just on the verge of not believing in Santa anymore. We don’t know his name or where exactly he lives. He could be anyone.

That night, a train shows up in his yard, tracks and all. “All aboard!”

He follows the call outside into the snow, where he meets the conductor of the mysterious train. But no matter what that conductor says, nothing can convince the boy to climb on. So finally, the conductor shrugs, adds “Suit yourself”, and leaves him to it.

But as the train pulls away, something clicks into place. The boy runs through the snow, grabs hold of the bar on the side of the train, and climbs on.

That’s only the start of the adventure.

Believe

The boy at last returns home—after traveling through forests, up mountains, and over poles, and to the North Pole—with the word “Believe” punched into his train ticket.

“Just remember,” the conductor says as the train vanishes into the snow, “the funny thing about trains—it doesn’t matter where they’re going. What matters is deciding to get on.”

And then he and the Polar Express are gone, with one final call of “Merry Christmas.”

We can take this scene one of two ways. We can do the decidedly adult route and get all up in arms about how yes, it is very important to know where your “train” is going.

And it is. Not knocking that. It’s very important to know where you’re going in life and after.

But if we were to take that route, we’d have to ignore the fact that these kids knew exactly where they were going. They were going to the North Pole. And they knew that because the conductor told them so.

None of these kids had ever seen the North Pole before. They didn’t know what it was like. They didn’t know if it was all they dreamed of. They didn’t know how to get there.

But none of that mattered.

They decided to get on.

And that mattered more than knowing every last detail of where they were going.

It Doesn’t Matter Where You’re Going . . .

We’re on a train of our own, too—a little thing called life. Sometimes that train brings us hot chocolate or trips to the North Pole, sometimes it brings us steep hills and cracking ice.

We know where we’re going, don’t we? It’s the whole reason we celebrate Christmas. God sent the Person dearest to Him to feel everything we feel. More than that, to suffer beyond imagination and rise again. So we could know where we were going. And so we could know it’s a wonderful place.

Even though we know where we’re going, we’ve never seen it before. We get little tastes of it here (and hint, you get more tastes of it the closer you stay to your Conductor), but at the same time, we know the joy coming is something entirely different than anything we’ve ever expected.

What if it’s not real? What if it’s not all we hoped for? What if we’re ruining everything here?

Sometimes we forget Jesus also came to help us climb aboard the train.

What Matters is Deciding to Get On.

Sometimes we forget that the journey matters just as much as the destination.

Even though I don’t know where it’s going. Even though I don’t have all the details. Even though the tracks are treacherous. Even though it hurts.

I believe.

And I can get on.

Sometimes Christmas hurts. Hard years make it hard to believe, hard to find wonder in this season we all love so much.

Get on anyways. Hang on for dear life if you have to. Because sometimes the scary roads lead to the most joyful moments.

It’s okay if it takes some time for you to get used to it all--to let go of the bar, come inside the train, even to sit with others in the main compartment. But little by little, you’ll find the more you leave it to the Conductor Who is never late to get you where you need to be, the more those snowflakes of joy blow into your life. And snowflakes add up to a snowfall as we give the hope and joy that we’ve received to others as well.

Like mysterious bells that only ring for those who believe. Does the bell still ring for you? Even if it doesn’t now, it can again.

I believe.

Heaven is here. Christmas is here. God is here.

So it doesn’t matter where you’re going.

What matters is deciding to get on.
 
*What’s your favorite Christmas movie? What do you think of The Polar Express? What does your Christmas look like this year? Share your adventures in the comments below!*

*Why are there so many cute and funny puppy Christmas memes? I forced myself to limit it to one.*