Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Perspective



today we made shoebox gifts for kids in Mexico. It was an enlightening process. We had planned on doing 6 boxes - one from each of our children & one for the baby that would have been born in the spring had I not miscarried. Plans changed. We ended up doing 8 because we got a few pairs of shoes over the weekend, so now there is one from each person in the family....

because there was 8 however, there were now only 6 coloring books, colored pencils etc...you get the idea, BUT there was TONS of stuff to fill the boxes; yo-yos, paddle balls, stuffed critters, crayons, candy, stickers....all sorts of stuff! Honestly, had we tried to cram it all into the 6 boxes they would have exploded!

At the end we had a time of prayer over the boxes and then I asked a question.

me: "So, if this was going to be your only Christmas present how would you react?"

Micah: " that's it?"

Arianna " disappointed"

Justyn " I dont want this for Christmas.... shouldn't we get what we want for Christmas?"

me: " wow."

why do we think we deserve something for Christmas? Why do we think Christmas just isn't special without a pile of wrapped packages under a tree? Why do we think in order to celebrate we have to have huge traditional meals? Or that we have to spend huge amounts of money spending it with family? Or that we need to bake 15 different batches of cookies (which I am very guilty of)? Or that we need to spend more than we ought in order to have a good time? Not that those things are bad(well some are), but if they take the place of the ONE whom we should be celebrating??????

then we talked about greed, and the purpose of even sending these boxes is so that the Lockwoods get an opportunity to share the Gospel with more children in Mexico, not to get a bunch of stuff. Don't get me wrong, the items are nice- just not what my kids would want under their own tree....

Christmas shouldn't be about toys or presents, I came under heavy conviction of that last year...in fact it is an area that is requiring much prayer in my life. And as a child thats really what it was about for me. In fact, for the very first time LAST YEAR we went to Church on Christmas eve- even as believers we have never done that. It was all about the traditional Christmas eve dinner- God is still searching our hearts on all of this....I don't want my children growing up with the need of Christmas greed... because we do know it should be all about the Saviour if we are celebrating it.... what do I mean if....well that's another post for another day.

2 comments:

The Lockwood Family ♥ said...

Wow...that's great! The children here will be so excited to receive such a special gift! Thank you for your generousity and love and especially for your prayers!
May the Lord bless you richly as you are a blessing to others.
I just read in Matthew this morning during my quiet time the verses when Jesus says in as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
love,
Jaynee
PS- Thank you for your prayers for the baby...as of Thursday, the bleeding stopped and I'm feeling so much better. I see the doctor Monday and am praying for a good report. My children have been so very helpful (hubby too when he's home), and I've just stayed here in bed and am praying that the placenta reattaches as the doctor said it could. Praying for you too as you continue to grieve the loss of your little one. May the Lord continue to comfort your heart and fill you with the blessed hope that we have in Jesus.

R said...

The commercialism of Christmas is something that my husband and I really struggle with too. There have been years I've pressured my husband to not have a tree and it's been hard the past couple of years because my husband and I own a business. It's difficult because you don't want to encourage others to not focus on the birth of Jesus but we also need money to pay the bills during the lean months. I so wish there were some easy answer!