Paddington Bear Christians
03-12-2007
by Johann Snyder

"Paddington was a hopeful bear at heart…" Those words always seem to resonate within me whenever I read the adventures of Paddington Bear. I think it's because Paddington's relentless optimism and hope is an encouraging reminder to me of one of the most important aspects of the Christian life. Granted, I may not find myself in the kind of messes Paddington does, but regardless of the circumstances Christians, like Paddington, should always be able to find hope.

Many of you may not be familiar with this character Paddington Bear. He's the delightful creation of Michael Bond. Paddington is a young bear from Darkest Peru who ends up living with the Brown family. The Brown's found Paddington at Paddington station in London, hence his name. From the moment the Brown's met Paddington, they found him to be polite, good intentioned, and constantly in some sort of trouble (usually through some sort of misunderstanding). Ever since I discovered the adventures of Paddington back in middle school, I've been enthralled with the improbable and often hilarious circumstances of his various adventures. It's rare to find such a sweetly innocent book that is also genuinely funny, even later in my adult years (I still find myself laughing out loud from time to time).

And then there's that common phrase that recurs quite often in Paddington's story about his being a very hopeful bear. For some reason, that phrase always warms my heart and brings a smile to my face. Believe me when I say that Paddington has gotten into some very messy, sticky situations (often quite literally), yet no matter how bleak the situation may be, Paddington always hopes for the best…and things usually turn out that way. It's really no mystery why Paddington is such a beloved character both in his fiction world and the literary world; his pleasant nature, naturally polite deference to others, and his inexhaustible ability to see the best in every situation makes him the type of person…er, bear that one would enjoy being around. It's the type of bear…uh, person we as Christians should be.

The Bible talks a lot about hope; and in fact it seems as though it should be a central part of the Christian life. The problem is we live in world devoid of hope. For whatever reason, people find it much easier to be cynical than hopeful. Of course the evidence we see around us only seems to confirm that hope is pointless: there are wars not peace, more hate than love, more broken promises than kept words, more deception than honesty. How can we have hope in such a world as this? Well, as Hebrews tells us, hope thrives because it focuses not on what we see, but what we don't see. Paddington was such hopeful bear because he could look beyond his current predicaments. Christians can be hopeful because we should be looking beyond this world to the one God has promised us.

It's so easy to let the day to day grind wear away our hope until we become fatalistic cynics rather than hopeful and joyful Christians. However, reading Paddington reminds me what a joy it is to have hope, even more so as a Christian because we're told that our hope won't disappoint us. In a world where hope is in such short supply, it needs more Paddington Bear Christians; optimistic hopers who can show others there is something worth believing in, something far better than what we currently see.

As Christian, we all know that we need to be like Jesus; WWJD. However, that may be either too obscure or too cliché for some of us to really attempt. That's why I'm thankful for characters like Paddington Bear. What a blessing it is to find inspiration in the misadventures of a young bear from Darkest Peru. Paddington is a delightful reminder to me of what I ought to be as a Christian; where do you find your reminders?