Christmas Lists
My family has a tradition of filling out Christmas Lists. It dates back all the way to the Sears Wish Book. Mom used to hand us the Wish Book and each child would go through with their color and circle anything and everything that looked enticing. As we grew older and the Internet grew larger we brought our parents’ tradition into the tech age by sending emails and word documents with links to our fare of choice. These days, even as adults we still do lists that then get passed around to all the brothers, sisters, parents, kids, etc… Every one marks their choice of gift from the lists so there are no repeat purchases. It makes Christmas very efficient and ensures that everyone gets gifts they will enjoy and desire. There is a little extra pleasure in giving a gift to someone when you know it is something they have been longing for.
As we quickly approach Christmas again this year requests for lists have been coming in. Courtney and I have not yet started our lists, but have talked about it. I seem to be struggling more this year with the idea of coming up with my list of excessive wants. Not that there aren’t plenty of products and items that America’s marketing machine has convinced me that I need. Rather my struggle comes from my increasing awareness of our blatant excess consumerism in light of the overwhelming financial need in the rest of the world.
As I posted earlier this Fall Americans spend $450 Billion a year on Christmas. WOW! $450 Billion! Now I am not against gift giving, because I know that it is expression of heart and a way to express our love for others. Even in the Bible we have examples of extravagant gift giving that Jesus blessed. Still I have to believe that there is at least 10% of that $450 Billion (that would be $45 Billion for you non-math people) that is spent out of obligation, the need to impress, social expectation, or consumer extravagance rather than out of love. How much money do we spend each year on office gift exchanges so we don’t seem unsocial, or on that relative we don’t want to actually go and visit. Probably even more sweeping is how much we spend on those closest to us. Our growing materialistic society has convinced us that the more you spend on gifts for someone the more you love them. So instead of picking a gift or gifts that are meaningful to the person, we look to fulfill a dollar amount that we have decided it an acceptable level for expressing our love.
I know by now I have probably stepped on some toes and hurt some feelings. These are certainly generalized ideas, and I know there are people out there who do not spend the amount they do out of obligation to social pressure or expectations or marketing. I know there are people out there that because of their love for their kids, parents, brothers, sisters, family, etc… basically spend as much as they can afford not to prove anything, but rather to impart joy and love. That is certainly honorable. I just wonder if we can accomplish the same goal with a larger audience?
I recently went to a concert, and like many Christian artists these days this one was promoting World Vision and child adoption. My wife and I have been World Vision supporters for many years now and absolutely love this organization. That night the artist made a comment in his pitch that struck me hard. He said I encourage you not only to sponsor a child, but to sponsor the oldest and ugliest child you can find at the table. What? He went on to explain that those are always the ones left at the end of each night. Even when we take the leap to be selfless in showing Christ’s love to a total stranger, we still tend to do it in our own cultural context. We feel better being able to post a picture of a cuter younger kid on our refrigerator. It makes us feel more warm and fuzzy inside, not to mention guests in our home would be much more likely to notice and fawn over a cute baby rather than a ugly teenager.
My point with this whole post is what if we took a little bit of the money we spend during the Christmas season on obligation gifts and excessive love gifts, and used that money to spread our love (or ultimately Christ’s love) to those outside our social circle. Those we don’t see on a regular basis, and probably will not have the opportunity to thank us. Those who are probably in a state of need rather than want.
To this end I would point you back to Advent Conspiracy and/or World Vision. Advent Conspiracy is raising money to help fight and ultimately end the world’s water crisis. We know that it would only take approximately $10 Billion to provide clean water to everyone in the world. That is only 4.5% of that $450 Billion we spend on Christmas each year. On a smaller, but maybe more personal scale, World Vision gives you the opportunity to sponsor a child for $30 a month. For $30 a month, $1 a day, child is provided with shelter, food, clothing, education, medical treatment, and most of all God’s love. If $30 a month is to much you can send a Christmas gift to a needy child/family via World Vision’s gift program. Anything from $25 for 2 chickens to $75 for a goat to $18,000 for a deep water well.
I will still make my Christmas list this year for my family, because I would not want to rob them of the gift of giving, but Courtney and I will also be buying and giving Christmas gifts in a different mindset and attitude this year. It will be more about spreading God’s love a far as possible and less about lavishing material things on each other and our family members. The love is in the act not the gift or dollar amount, and actions are free. So I encourage you search out ways your giving this holiday season can spread the love of God a little farther than usual.
–Wholly Surrender!
November 27th, 2008 at 9:37 pm
[...] micahmathis put an intriguing blog post on Christmas Lists : wholly surrender - He must increase, but I must …Here’s a quick excerptMy family has a tradition of filling out Christmas Lists. It dates back all the way to the Sears Wish Book. Mom used to hand us the Wish Book and each child would go through with their color and circle anything and everything that … [...]