I love Christmas!
It is a time of giving and receiving, blessing and sharing, a special time that we spend with our families. But are the gifts that we give every year necessary? Are we giving gifts that make others happy? Are we re-gifting presents to make us happy? Are we recreating the mystical, magical, Holy semblance of the Wise Kings of old sharing their wealth with our Lord Jesus Christ? Or are we subject to commercialism and the press of our ad-driven, consumer society?
I feel the guilt that so many of us feel around this time of year. I feel that I have so much as compared to those less fortunate. By understanding how much I am truly blessed with, my guilt only grows in this season of gift giving. Donating to charities, volunteering for non-profit organizations; these do fill us with that warm feeling that evades us most of the year. But I have fallen out of that habit as of late. What am I doing? What should I do? I do have some idea...
If we were to give each other our true gifts and talents and share our time with them, I believe our Christmases would be brighter. I am not above gift-giving and do not want to come off as holier-than-thou, because I know I'm not. I still want to give my wife the world and tend to overdo gift-giving. But - and this is just an idea - if we were to spend time doing things for people, sharing our time, conversation, skills, even teaching them something, instead of the wrapped up boxes, we would be giving something greater.
Challenging though it might be, I will attempt to do something for all of my friends this upcoming year. I will start by helping my family do chores, being a shoulder for a friend to lean on, baby-sitting so that a friend can enjoy a night out, or washing cars.
I'm not asking anyone to follow my lead. I know I will not change the world with this 'project'. I'm just going to do this to make myself feel better. In a way it is selfish. But I believe that by sharing my gifts this way, every day will feel like Christmas.
