Hard/Not-hard to shop for

It’s that time of year when this phrase gets slipped into conversations: “What would you like for Christmas?”  Here’s the reply they don’t want: “Nothing. Give to something worthy.”   Amidst all the hoopla of “Black Friday” and super-sales, maybe we need to actually listen to those requests.

I found a kindred spirit recently when re-reading one of my “keeper” books, Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow (NavPress, 1998). In one chapter she deals with financial anxiety and the tendency to want more and more, like the greedy leech of Proverbs 30:15, who never has “enough.” In applying this to the pressures of holiday giving, Dillow described two friends who decided to proactively emphasize the “giving” that was important to them. Two months before Christmas, they wrote their adult children a letter, asking that their Christmas present to parents be a gift for someone less fortunate than they are. Period. They asked that the “gift” also appear as a little note on the Christmas tree, telling what the giver had done, in Jesus’ name.

The couple described their joy over opening the notes at Christmas.  A son began sponsoring an overseas orphan. Another washed floors and cleaned a rescue mission. Still another helped homeless people.

Of course, giving to the needy or worthy causes is no new idea.  Our mailboxes are full of appeals at Christmastime, often from groups we know little of. But there are others with a visible and respected presence that reach out to prisoners’ children, the known needy of the community, and other established overseas outreaches.  When our children were young, we filled those well-publicized shoeboxes with kid hygiene items and toys, wondering who would get them.  I hoped it balanced out that “it’s all about me” mentality that slips into the holidays.

Dillow’s concluding remark adds a punch to these suggestions: “Brainstorm with friends about how you can say ’Enough!’ to overspending for gifts.  Everyone’s home needs a house cleaning to keep the greedy leech away” (p. 93). It’s not about “Presents!” with a capital P and exclamation mark.  It’s about the presence of the holy God among us.