Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
A new Christmas tradition?
I LOVE all things Christmas, and our December this far has been full of all the usual fun Christmas activities. We got dressed up for the Chick-fil-A Open House (note Holly's name tag - so cute!):
Decorated a gingerbread house:
And baked Christmas cake balls.
We've had some reeeeally cold nights, and have used the heck out of our old-fashioned, woodburning fireplace already. And it's not even winter yet.
All of the activity, while all good things, makes me think about how we distort the spirit of Christmas with our consumerism and excess. I fall into this trap each year, and it bothers me. Then I read books like Radical, and read verses like these, and I have to wonder...are we missing the boat? Rather than collecting things for ourselves (and teaching our kids to do the same), shouldn't we be giving our things away? I'm not there yet.
But I'm being challenged lately, and it's as though Jesus is saying directly to my heart, "I have blessed you with so much not so that you can consume more, but because you are the means through which I will love and feed the poor and oppressed." And man, does Jesus love the poor and the oppressed.
What does that mean for our family? What does that mean for me?
After talking about this with our small group, our neighbor and friend Kerri challenged me. Above and beyond their family's normal giving, she had decided to give away all of her discretionary monthly allowance for 2011 to Charity: Water. No fancy haircuts, no department store lipstick. Instead, she is bringing clean water to people who have none. That's what I'm talking about! THAT is the spirit of Christmas!
Knowing I had to put up or shut up, I decided to give up my entire clothing budget for next year (and Matt's too...if I didn't tell him, he would never even know). I'm not sure where it's going yet. But I'm excited about knowing that the new shoes I didn't buy just fed a child. Or purchased a teenage girl out of sex slavery. Or did just about anything other than fill up my already full closet.
Having decided that (last night!), my heart feels full. And ready to receive my King.
Merry Christmas to all!
Decorated a gingerbread house:
And baked Christmas cake balls.
We've had some reeeeally cold nights, and have used the heck out of our old-fashioned, woodburning fireplace already. And it's not even winter yet.
All of the activity, while all good things, makes me think about how we distort the spirit of Christmas with our consumerism and excess. I fall into this trap each year, and it bothers me. Then I read books like Radical, and read verses like these, and I have to wonder...are we missing the boat? Rather than collecting things for ourselves (and teaching our kids to do the same), shouldn't we be giving our things away? I'm not there yet.
But I'm being challenged lately, and it's as though Jesus is saying directly to my heart, "I have blessed you with so much not so that you can consume more, but because you are the means through which I will love and feed the poor and oppressed." And man, does Jesus love the poor and the oppressed.
What does that mean for our family? What does that mean for me?
After talking about this with our small group, our neighbor and friend Kerri challenged me. Above and beyond their family's normal giving, she had decided to give away all of her discretionary monthly allowance for 2011 to Charity: Water. No fancy haircuts, no department store lipstick. Instead, she is bringing clean water to people who have none. That's what I'm talking about! THAT is the spirit of Christmas!
Knowing I had to put up or shut up, I decided to give up my entire clothing budget for next year (and Matt's too...if I didn't tell him, he would never even know). I'm not sure where it's going yet. But I'm excited about knowing that the new shoes I didn't buy just fed a child. Or purchased a teenage girl out of sex slavery. Or did just about anything other than fill up my already full closet.
Having decided that (last night!), my heart feels full. And ready to receive my King.
Merry Christmas to all!
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