The Christmas Spirit

I don’t know about you, but I’m having a hard time getting into the “Christmas Spirit” this year.  Tell you the truth, I get kinda confused on what that actually means!  If that means buying “a lot of gifts that I really can’t afford at this time for my kids who really don’t need any more items that will end up broken on the floor in three weeks”, I’m just not feeling it.

Christmas as the “most special time of the year” has ether turned into a marketing campaign or a fiscal, philosophical approach for retailers.  The specialness wears off when you recognize the blind selfishness, greed, and manipulation all around you.  For crying out loud, I’m watching TV feeling a little guilty that I don’t show my love for my wife by surprising her with a new Lexus out in the driveway!  If I had the money, a Lexus would be the last car I would buy!

If the “Spirit of Christmas” means charity, I’m game.  I’ve been game for around 20 years now.  I bought into this really cool marketing campaign in my early 20′s, and it stuck with me.  I was struggling with the perceived hypocrisy of American Christians, and their blindness to social injustice, when I came across this radical slogan.  “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and spirit, and Love Your Neighbor as yourself.”  What a crazy ideal!  Didn’t mention worrying about everyone’s motives, or how certain individuals went about their business, it was all about me, as an individual, loving God by loving others.

Christmas is about the Gift of God, not about our gifts to each other.  I’ll buy my family gifts, because this is the cultural tradition that is accepted at this point in history.  But in reality, if I buy into the “Spirit of Christmas”, I’ll make giving part of my lifestyle year round.  I’ll look to put others before myself, I’ll be moved to compassion through the struggles of my neighbor, I’ll seek to be involved in the process of improving my community because it benefits the community, all this in an attempt to show my love for God.

I believe if we really get Christmas, it will show more January through November then it does in December.  This is not to say our family traditions are wrong or evil at this particular holiday, its just to say that our faith should motivate us to live a lifestyle of putting others before ourselves year round.  Just as Christian Faith isn’t played out on Sunday, its played out Monday through Saturday, so is the Christmas Spirit not played out in December, its played out throughout the year.

I hope you enjoy this Christmas season, I hope you don’t overbuy for your children as I’m attempting not to do for mine.  I hope you enjoy all your family traditions, with all the warm fuzzies that are associated with them.  Most of all, I hope you recognize our faith is such a precious gift from God, and I hope you are motivated to share it with your friends and family during this special time!