The True Gift of Christmas - Devotion

Have you heard the expression, “too much of a good thing”?  Recently I was remembering a Christmas almost 40 years ago when I decided to have too much of a good thing and ended up very sick. I was probably about 6-years old and I decided to sneak out of bed and have a few Christmas tamales. I may have had more than a few and maybe I forgot they needed to be warmed up first.  They tasted yummy cold so I figured it was OK until I was sitting in church. All of a sudden my tummy didn't feel so good. Because my mom only trusts Mexican doctors or we didn't have great health insurance, we had to drive all the way across the border to see a doctor who made the embarrassing diagnosis that I was severely constipated.  I have never been able to look at tamales the same.  Oh, I still eat them at Christmas because it is a tradition but now I have some semblance of self-control.

This Christmas I am feeling a little constipated, not literally but metaphorically.  I feel like Christmas has become all about STUFF. Think about Black Friday.  We are leaving our families in the middle of celebrating. What could we possibly need that is worth giving up our family for? I had to ask myself, "How many presents do I actually buy for others instead of myself?" I guess I am just wondering why I worry so much about STUFF.   

My daughter has been crushed by disappointment again this Christmas. I can honestly say I had nothing to do with it. You see, she'd inherited my old cell phone and was glued to it ever since. We’d wake up in the morning to find that she’d been awake texting for hours. So this year, high on her Christmas list, was an iHome.  Then the unthinkable happened. Her phone died and not even Apple techs could resurrect it. Because I'd already bought and wrapped her present, she had to unwrap and return it. Man, did she throw a huge “TWEEN pity party” and I can tell you it was not pretty.  I truly believe I was seeing texting withdrawals. This attitude started to bug because she was completely oblivious to the blessings in her life. She was fixated on “STUFF”.  WANT, WANT, WANT was all I was hearing.

As parents we want to provide for our children. We want to see them happy. I realize that at her age the loss of her phone was overwhelming because literally every person she knows has his or her own phone.  Part of me wanted to replace her phone for Christmas because, other than the occasional Tween drama, she's a great kid.  But more importantly, I want for her to grow up appreciating every blessing in her life because we don’t always get what we want in life and that's a very good thing. 

I grew up in a home with hard working parents.  We had plenty of love but were short on funds. My sisters and I joke that the reason we are such terrible cooks is that we literally grew up eating boiled eggs and potatoes, bean and tortillas, rabbit, and our idea of PB&J was on corn tortillas not bread.  But I loved my childhood and look back on it fondly. My favorite Christmas memory was the year my sister and I got $25 each from a great uncle. Now you may think that because we didn't have extra money our initial thought would have been to send it on ourselves but surprisingly it wasn't. Our first thought was to pool our money and to buy our extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins a Christmas gift.  Our parents drove us to Kmart and we spent the next few hours shopping for everyone on our list.  Every single item was carefully considered because we wanted to please our family.  It was awesome! Of course, we miscalculated the total and we ended up being $11 short. The funny thing is that I was pretty young and I remember the exact amount because that day had a huge impact on my life.   

That is the type of Christmas experience I want my daughter to have.  Because when you give freely with love it is the greatest rush of happiness you will every experience.  I think the scripture verse, “It is better to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) refers to this supernatural blessing you feel when you give like this. Some children are born with generous hearts. You will see young children in elementary school organizing fundraisers for disaster relief or charitable organizations. Other children need to have this behavior modeled for them.

Children are not the only ones that struggle with generosity.  I know as I got older, I began to stress about having sufficient income to pay bills. It became harder for me to be generous. OK, my husband calls me CHEAP. How rude! Out of the two of us, he's always generous. His first impulse is to give. I usually have to analyze it to death.  I have found that many times my heart wants to give but fear of being without hinders me. It is at these times that it takes me stepping out in faith and holding on to the promises of God.

2 Corinthians 9:7 (CEV)

 Each of you must make up your own mind about how much to give. But don’t feel sorry that you must give and don’t feel that you are forced to give. God loves people who love to give.

Proverbs 19:17 (NLT)

If you help the poor, you are lending to the Lord— and he will repay you!

Proverbs 22:9 (NLT)

Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.

Luke 6:38 (NLT)

Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. 

So this Christmas, as annoyed as I was with my daughter’s attitude, I really couldn't blame anyone but myself.  You know that scripture, “Why do you judge the speck of sawdust in your neighbor’s eyes when you have a log in your own”? (Matthew 7:3).  I think that was why her attitude was bugging me so much because it was like staring at my own selfishness. She is a child who is barely learning God's word and I am the adult who has been saved for 20 years. As weird as it sounds, it was a blessing to grow up with less.  It was a blessing when my mom modeled generosity by taking us to Mexico and pulling over the car in a dirt lot filled with cardboard houses to hand out food and clothes. It was a blessing when I saw my parents open their home to friends with less than we had. It was a blessing to have aunts and uncles that came along side my parents and gave unselfishly.  It was a blessing to expect only a couple gifts underneath the tree and to be excited about them. It was a blessing to help provide for my family as a child by doing part-time work at home. These are the times my parents were modeling generosity and gratitude. I am failing as a parent if I do not do the same.

I started reflecting on King Solomon and read the account of his life in The Book of Ecclesiastes. When the kingdom was passing to Solomon, God appeared to him and told him that He would give him anything he asked for (2 Chronicles 1:7).  Solomon asked for wisdom because he knew he needed God’s wisdom in order to be a good king.  God was very pleased with this answer so He blessed him with wisdom but He also blessed him with wealth beyond any king that has ever lived. (1 Chronicles 1:12).  As Solomon gained wealth, he lost sight of God and became absorbed in worldly pleasures. He says in Ecclesiastes that "he denied himself no pleasure". He had wealth, possession, women and prestige. The more “stuff” he attained the farther he strayed from God and the more discouraged he became.  He describes his life and possessions as meaningless and empty. He said the pursuit of these things was "like chasing the wind". At the end of his life he basically concluded that God has planted eternity in our human hearts (3:11) so that we will long for a relationship with God. If we attempt to fill our hearts with “stuff” we will end up feeling empty and discouraged like Solomon.  The Book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon's warning to us to learn from his mistakes and he warns us that true contentment can only be found in God and keeping His commandments. That is why the bible says:

Matthew 6:19-21 (MSG)

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

So how do I store up treasures in Heaven and how do I model this for my daughter?  It is going to be a learning process for both of us.  First, it will be about cutting back to the basics on gifts. Smaller and less is more appreciated.  Do you know that after the phone debacle it took her about 2 weeks to recover from text withdrawals and suddenly her old DS was discovered underneath her bed.  Also, in order for her to value money and to truly feel the cost of “stuff”, we have started giving her $10 per month allowance. Out of that money, she must set aside 10% to tithe to the church and 10% to savings.  The rest she can spend as she pleases.  It is amazing when she is spending her own money, suddenly items that seemed like necessities can suddenly be lived without.  Most importantly, we are going to find opportunities to give and serve others. 

And because I know myself, I know I am going to mess up in this modeling thing so luckily God gave us the perfect model of generosity.

James 1:17-18 (NLT)

 Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.  He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.  He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. 

Jesus was God’s good and perfect gift to us.  God’s one and only Son given to us as a living sacrifice to pay the price for our sins so that we may become adopted sons and daughters and gain the inheritance of Heaven and eternal life.  The God of the universe, that literally holds the world is His hands, calls us his “prized possession”.   That is the greatest Christmas gift of all.   

Recently, I was sent this video of a Flash Mob breaking out in spontaneous singing of Christmas songs at a mall.  What touched me the most about this video was the reaction and faces of those watching.  Everyone around stopped his or her hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping to hear the worship music dedicated to Jesus. Some stood in awe, others in surprise, others had tears, yet no one sneered.  I think that this illustrates Solomon’s point that God has placed the longing for eternity in our hearts because we if take the time to listen we all recognize His voice when He is calling to us.  So this Christmas, if you are blessed enough to have presents underneath the tree, remember that the TRUE gift of Christmas is God's PRESENCE freely offered to you in the person of Jesus whose very name means"God with us". Not because we have been good or bad this year but because God the Father sees us, knows us, created us, longs for us, and wants to adopt us as a son or daughter.  Open your eyes, ears, and heart to the miracle of Christmas and reach up your hands and accept His gift of salvation.

Isaiah 9:6-10 (CEB)

A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders.
He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
There will be vast authority and endless peace for David’s throne and for his kingdom,
establishing and sustaining it with justice and righteousness now and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of heavenly forces will do this.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.
Love,
Yolanda

This post was shared on http://joyinthisjourney.com/2013/01/when-youre-scared-to-write-unmasked-and-you-host-lifeunmasked/

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