It is the holiday season, though I am sure Christmas decorating did not begin this early when I was a child. When I was little, Christmas was about the unknown mystery of Santa. Without being raised with spiritual faith, it was the closest to unexplained hope I ever knew.
When I was five years old, I promised my parents I had seen Santa's shadow in my room. He looked like a giant ball with a head. For years, I waited up to see this shadow again. My little brother and I built tents in the living room to try and stay awake for Santa, but always fell asleep too soon. Instead we would wake up super early on Christmas morning.
Stacks of toys had appeared and I was always amazed as to how they got there. Even long after I knew it was my parents, I wanted to keep the mysterious part of Christmas alive.
When I became a Christian, Christmas became bigger. Now I could celebrate a baby born to take away the sins of the world. I loved going to church on Christmas Eve and celebrating through carols that honor Christ. Christmas day was the same as it always had been at home, but I loved it more because the mystery I had been reaching for was God. Now there could be hope all year round.
Then college years hit me and Christmas became more political. All the child-like joy was covered with the heavy gloom of the world. Look at all the starving children. How can we sit in our warm houses celebrating when the rest of the world is starving? Spend your money on goats, water, and feeding children. These things are so important, but works should never take the place of the miracle of Christ and they began to.
It is so easy to focus on gifts at Christmas, but it is also easy to get swept away in guilt. I know the majority of the world is focused on the gift part of things, but really we should be focused on celebrating the birth of Christ. Being together as His body is more important than anything else. Yes, we need to feed the poor. We need to be thinking about this all year long, not just at Christmas. Hooking into guilt while people are in a spending mood is not the way to give the world a Merry Christmas, or solve some of the worlds biggest problems.
If you have money to give, give...I am not saying not to give to the poor, I am mainly saying don't sit around feeling depressed (as I have) because one barely has a few extra pennies to give to the poor. We have only bought Christmas gifts for our kids two times because we really did not have enough money to do things like that. I am not saying this as a sob story. My kids got gifts from other family members, but I am saying if you have to focus on one thing, focus on Christ. Spend time together and don't get swept away in what you should be doing.
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