Spend less ... give MORE.

My daughter (the one who is away at school and graduates next week ... woohoo!) sent me a video last week on the Advent Conspiracy. Have you heard of it?

The video (which talks about turning Christmas upside-down this season by spending less and worshiping more) resonated with me completely because I have been (slowly) trying to change the way we do Christmas for years. I have wanted Christmas to be more about love and peace and giving but not the kind of giving where we just add to the abundance of stuff we all have, or run around spending a lot of time, energy and resources (not to mention the stress of it all) just to find something to give the people we love to show them we love them. I have wanted to make it more about Jesus and less about Santa.

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matthew 25:37-40

One year we put cash in people's mailboxes anonymously and it felt amazing. I wish I could say we did it every year. We started giving gifts of lambs and goats. And water. And you know what? We gave them to my nieces and nephew instead of toys and money for themselves and they were so welcoming of these gifts for other people. I love that they had big enough hearts to share their gifts with someone else.

Like most people, we have adopted families and given to those who have less than we do, but I wonder if it is enough. We do all that, but we still keep the same crazy pace, get stressed over things (that don't really matter) not getting done. And we still indulge each other with things we don't really need. I know it is a process and it is one I am willing to look into more deeply. And that is what I loved about the video. It was a nice reminder.

I really love this time of year. It is the season where people just seem a little more kind and loving. Oh, if we could just live it all year long. I hope that I can remember, and I hope you do too, that our overflow (whether it be our time, our resources and especially our love) is somebody else's necessity. And that Christmas is really about a baby being born ... who came down to this Earth to show us how much we are loved by God. We love because He first loved us. And we give because we have been given so much.

You can view the video here.

^"But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." - 1 John 3:17,18

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