We were dreamers not so long ago, but one by one we all had to grow up. When it seems the magic slipped away, we find it all again on Christmas Day. Believe in what you heart is saying. Hear the melody that’s playing. There’s no time to waste. There’s so much to celebrate. Believe in what you feel inside and give your dreams the wings to fly. You have everything you need if you just believe.

Written to accompany the 2004 film adaptation of the 1985 Christmas book classic, The Polar Express, this song has become a staple of the twenty-first century Christmas. It is gentle and melodic, but also steadily building us into a place where belief is truly possible again, just based on the music alone.

The honest truth is that our faith – our ability to believe in all the things that we want to trust but cannot see – it all comes from the same place inside us. And as we get older, we often become jaded because life throws hard balls, fast balls, curve balls, and every other type of mean pitches we can imagine when we aren’t expecting them. Believing becomes difficult, whether in Santa or in God.

But every once in a while we get the chance to experience something that shows us just enough of the wonder to see clearly again. To remember the true hearts we all had that knew that everything is possible. And to realize that there is always a chance to find new life again. Because at the end of the day, Dickens was right: that is precisely what Christmas Day is.

So whatever shadows you may be finding yourself in, whether you are five or ninety-five or anywhere in-between, I encourage you, during this season of hope, to look for the magic. Look for the wonder in the children’s eyes. Look for the kindness in strangers’ smiles and service offered to one another. Remember what it was to be a child – because you really do have everything you need. God’s light is still there inside you. All you have to do, is remember. And just believe.

Believe