This past week the Christmas tree in Rockefeller center was lit to “officially” kick off the Christmas Season. The traditions, the food, the lights, and the trees make me think it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
But what is Christmas all about?
To me Christmas is all about giving.
Over the Thanksgiving break I am sure a good chunk of us were out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, hitting the phenomenal sales. We were trying to figure out what we were going to get grandmas, moms, dads, and those special someones for Christmas.
Our society takes a holiday with a lot of meaning and makes it very commercialized.
Now do not take this the wrong way: I am all for getting gifts for family and friends and giving them to people who are special in our lives. But so many times it is about the gift and not about the reason why we give the gift.
The holidays are so busy and full of hustle and bustle that it is very easy to lose sight of what this whole thing is about.
When I was home over Thanksgiving it was crazy because I had family dinners, friends calling me wanting to hang out, work and many other activities to take up my time.
Those are all good things but I kept myself so busy that I did not really spend a moment to look back and remind myself what I was thankful for in life.
With Christmas around the corner, I do not want to miss an opportunity to step back and see what this holiday is all about.
It is so easy for all of us to get bogged down with worrying about finals, trying to make some money or shopping for gifts that we lose sight of what Christmas is all about.
I know that almost all of us love to receive gifts for Christmas. It’s fun to wake up on Christmas morning and see the gifts under the tree. Or it is fun to have someone you know show you that they care about you by getting you a gift.
But at this time of year there are people who do not have someone to give him or her a gift.
Last year a group of us went Christmas caroling and we went to a nursing home in my hometown. We had an opportunity to go throughout the nursing home singing and talking to some of the people who cannot get out on their own.
We had a couple of kids with us who three or four years old. As we were leaving the nursing home there was an elderly gentleman sitting at the window looking out into the distance.
He looked pretty down.
As we were leaving, one of the kids went up to him and gave him a hug and wished him a merry Christmas. The elderly man’s eyes welled up with tears and also wished the young child a merry Christmas.
The gift that the kid gave was not one that cost of lot of money. He gave the elderly man a gift that was so much more precious than money could buy.
For me the Christmas season means so much because it represents Christ’s birth and how He came to earth to give all of us a special gift.
All of the gifts that my family and friends give me are great but the gift that Christ gave me is so much better.
Jesus gave me a friendship that is more precious than gold or silver. He paid my spiritual debts, sin, and truly showed me that it is more blessed to give than receive.
The cool thing is that he gave this gift to everyone. We choose on whether we want to receive it or to turn it down.
Throughout the rest of this Christmas season may all of us give gifts that are from the heart and realize that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive.
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