Christmas in July seems like a ridiculous statement to me; however, it has been used over and over again. Where did it come from? The internet has given me the answer. It seems that a girls’ camp in 1933 in North Carolina decided to devote two days in July to the celebration of Christmas. On those two days, they had fake snow, gifts, Christmas trees, and Santa Claus. This tradition was then picked up by the retail stores, and we’re not surprised by that. So, Christmas in July is still in the air today. In fact, this morning as I waited on the phone with the church for a phone number, the administrative assistant was humming, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” This was confirmation that this blog needed to be written. It came to me a few days ago when I watched a Christmas movie called “Paper Angels.” Here I am in July enjoying a very old Christmas movie on YouTube.
This movie was made in 2014. It’s not ancient, but it is older. There are many issues covered in this movie; alcoholism, abuse, forgiveness, reconciliation, prayer, generosity, and bullies. I think this was done without being cheesy, which is a plus. After the movie, what really struck me was how a difficult scripture was portrayed well in this movie.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:21.)
We all struggle with this scripture. It’s so hard to overcome evil when we feel like taking our own revenge on the one who committed the evil against us. How did this movie teach me about this?

In “Paper Angels,” a mother has been abused by her alcoholic husband and packs up her two children to run away. She finds a new place to live and is working as a waitress. Christmas is coming, and she doesn’t have enough money to get gifts for her kids. She finds out about the Salvation Army’s program for needy families at Christmas. Each child would receive a paper angel which would be put on a Christmas tree after they had listed what they wanted for Christmas. Then people would pick an angel in order to buy the gifts requested by the child. The Salvation Army would then make sure that the families received the gifts. What a great program! The mother was excited for her children to be an angel on this giving Christmas tree.

At the same time, her teenage son is having issues at the high school. He is bullied and cyberbullied. Everyone seems to make fun of him laughing right in his face. He doesn’t want to fill out the angel because that supports the fact that he is now poor and appears to be exactly like the names he’s called at school. There’s a whole lot more going on during this time in the movie, but the boy is where I want us to focus. You see, he comes to a conclusion concerning his situation. He takes the fake Facebook page about him where everyone is laughing at him and comments. He asks the school to collect toys and clothes for the Salvation Army to give to needy kids for Christmas. They get on board with this as does the community. The other thing he does is fill out the paper angel with a list of Christmas gifts but tells his mom not to read them. She is so happy that he will be getting gifts.

Now here comes part of a spoiler alert which I must do in order to show you how this boy fulfills Romans 12:21. The school collects a carload of gifts for Salvation Army as a result of his challenge. His gifts arrive late. He reaches in the bag and gives a gift to his mom and then one to his sister. Then he goes and meets the biggest bully, who had made the fake Facebook page. He gives him a pair of basketball shoes from his list on the paper angel. The bully is speechless. To top all of this off, he leaves the last gift on his father’s porch. It’s a jersey of his favorite basketball player. Before this, we find out that dad has quit drinking and that he is being prayed for by mom and kids. He cries as he opens his gift. There is hope being shown here.

This boy overcame evil with good as he dealt with the bully and his dad. He was generous with his mom and sister. It was a good reminder that stepping out of our comfort zone to do something that might be considered radical can change hearts. I was impressed by his humility as he began to carry out his plan of good. I’m so glad my husband stumbled onto this movie on YouTube. It was worth the time spent watching it.

Christmas in July? Yes, I will look at it differently now. It’s a time to do good to all and be generous. It’s a time to think about Jesus being born in order to live and die in my place. The bully, Satan, has been defeated. Let’s celebrate that as you and I seek to overcome evil with good.