Last week, I saw something I had never really seen before. My son-in-law Chris showed me an amazing and astounding discovery in A Charlie Brown Christmas. 

It’s hard to find someone who isn’t familiar with this program. It aired in 1965 in prime time and, I suppose, has been seen every year since. It has become as iconic as It’s a Wonderful Life. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas features the characters of the Peanuts comic strip drawn by Charles Schultz, a devoted follower of Christ.

There are a few things that everyone can point out about Peanuts–Lucy always moved the ball, Charlie Brown always wore a striped shirt, and Linus always carried his blanket.

It spite of the cajoling of all the characters, Linus never let go of his blanket. Charles Schultz never drew Linus without drawing the blanket, except for one time.

It occurred in the Christmas classic. You probably remember the scene. All the characters are arguing over the Christmas Pageant. In exasperation, Charlie Brown asks something like, “What’s the meaning of Christmas anyway?”

Linus answers by reciting Luke 2:8-14. When he gets to the part where the angel says, “Fear not, for I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all the people,” he simply drops the blanket and for the only time speaks without the blanket. Once you really see it, you notice how different it is.

It’s as if at that very moment Schultz chose to emphasize trust and dependence on God. Linus dropped the blanket and didn’t pick it up again until the scene finished.

It leads me to ask, “What blanket do you need to drop?” What fear are you holding on to? What is keeping you from greater trust in God?

Jason Soroski said, “The birth of Jesus allows us to simply drop the false security we have been grasping so tightly, and learn to trust and cling to Him instead.”

Why not make this a special Christmas by simply “Dropping the blanket.”