Monday, November 15, 2010

Give It Away

Last year, after fighting the holiday crowds in the mall, stressing over last minute gifts and wondering how I was going to pay for it all, I came to a rather disturbing realization. I hated Christmas. Or rather, I hated what Christmas had become. Without realizing it, I had allowed the materialism of the holiday, the anxiety about finding the perfect gift and the pride of ensuring my home looked like a Hallmark Christmas card, to overshadow the true meaning of Christmas! It was a humbling moment.

Not long after this revelation, I tuned in to our local Christian radio station and heard words that led my husband and I make some rather radical changes to how we spend the holidays. “Give this Christmas away.” *

With those words, we did a complete about-face in how we approached the holiday season. Intentionally putting less emphasis on the decorations, the baking (and eating!), and gift giving, we turned our eyes to that lowly manger and chose to follow God’s example by giving of ourselves and from the abundance He has blessed us with. From the lonely widow down the street, to the family struggling to make ends meet, to the orphan in Africa, we discovered a multitude of creative ways to “give this Christmas away."

*"Give This Christmas Away" by Matthew West

1 comment:

julie said...

I love this. It's a great reminder. Considering we never make the effort to decorate for Christmas in my home (which I've always felt kind of guilty about), this makes me feel better. After all, it's not the point. It'll be fun trying to think up ways to teach Piper the true meaning of Christmas. Hoping we'll always remember to be intentional about that.