What if You Gave Your Christmas Away?

Christmas day is quickly approaching and the anticipation of those special gifts is beginning to swell inside.  Our hopes are getting us excited as we dream of what we will receive.    Maybe it is a smart phone, tablet, mp3, electronic toy, digital game, gift cards, or money.  Whatever it is, you are getting excited.  You know you have gotten what you wanted in the past and so you expect it again.  What if that gift you are anticipating, never makes it under your tree?  How will you feel?  What will you think?  What if on Christmas morning nothing was left under your tree, no smart phone, no tablet, no Mac book, or mp3… What would you think and how would you feel if nothing was left under your tree? 

Truth be known, many of us will find our trees full of gifts like the mp3's.  Then there will be those who hoped for nothing more than a pair of shoes that fit, a coat with no holes, money to pay the electric bill, or even a couple cans of food to eat.  We look at the world around us and question why so many are in need.  We point the finger at others for not meeting these needs.  There are those who doubt a loving God exists since when there are so many who suffer.  Why does that not change our greed?

I was listening on a Christian radio station how you could buy gifts for someone else in need.  You could buy seeds for a garden, sewing machines, chickens, goats, cows, and even a water buffalo.  You could buy things for others who have a real need.  Gifts that would be used to start a business, a farm, a ranch, or even provide food to families in need.  I got to thinking, how cool would it be if I got a water buffalo.  I could give it to a family overseas.  They could use it to plow fields, carry water, and pull carts.  They have no tractors, but a water buffalo could make their lives so much more efficient.  What if I bought some chickens? A starving family could eat their eggs and raise more chickens to eat. 

What about that neighbor across the street, you know the one who struggles to make ends meet.  How about that kid in school, the one that only has worn out shoes and hand me down clothes to wear?  Then there is that elderly man who has no family during his time of need.  Is there a lonely widow who has no one to feed? Maybe there is a kid fighting to beat cancer while you are running around feeling free.  You can meet a need and it doesn't have to be overseas.

What if this Christmas you chose to do without?  What if you gave all or part of your Christmas away?  How would it feel to meet someone else's need?   What a different world this would be if there were no greed. 

This year it is estimated that Americans will spend over $50 billion on Christmas.  We sponsor a Child through Compassion International for $38.00 per month or $456.00 per year.  In doing so, Thomas receives an education, school supplies, food, clothes, medicine, gifts, and the message of Jesus Christ.  How many less people would have an unfilled need if we chose to give instead of receive?

This little girl is showing off her purse.
What do you think she may need?
She lives in the poorest part of Nicaragua
that I have ever seen.

Romans 12:13

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

May my life be the proof and evidence of His love!

May my life be the proof and evidence of His love!