Guest Author - A. Maria Hester, M.D.
In the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it is very easy to lose sight of what Christmas is all about. I mean the true meaning of Christmas. Starting the day after Thanksgiving, merchants inundate the airwaves and newspapers with offers that seem too good to be true. You know, the ones you absolutely cannot pass up or you will kick yourself later. After all, who would not want to save a bundle of those “must-have” gifts that will bring a wide smile to the faces of even those who seem like Ebenezer Scrooge or, in cartoon land, The Grinch, for 364 days of the year?
Most of us find ourselves struggling with the seemingly overwhelming desire to purchase items far outside of our budgets to buy things that deep down inside we know our loved ones do not really need. We even struggle to purchase items for those people whom we are really not all that crazy about, but because they bought us a gift, we feel obligated to reciprocate.
One would think that after multiple years of finding ourselves paying huge credit card bills for months after the Christmas season (sometimes well into the next Christmas season) we would have learned our lesson. But then come those dreaded dream commercials and the wish lists of those whom we cherish, and we start the process all over again.
While there is nothing wrong with giving gifts to others, it is obvious that the true meaning of Christmas has gotten lost in the commercialism, at least for a significant segment of the population.
Of course we do not know the true day of the birth of the baby Jesus, but that is not the point. Christmas is a religious holiday. It is the day when people who believe in the saving power of Jesus Christ stop to reflect on the birth of the Savior of the world. It is to represent a celebration of an era of unprecedented love and sacrifice. Jesus did not live to obtain more and more of this world’s wealth. On the contrary, He knew that true happiness comes from God and the type of love that the earth deeply needed and longed for. I will not pretend to have even a tiny grasp of the type of love He embraced, but for a brief moment, I will use my imagination and I invite you to join me.
Can you imagine living in a home in which you never even considered locking your doors at night because you knew your neighbors, and fellow citizens, would not even think about breaking in and stealing your possession, much less causing you bodily harm? What if no one ever hit the accelerator to prevent you from getting in front of them on the road to make that last minute turn-off? When you arrive at work each day, you are greeted by warm, heartfelt smiles from people who are encouraged to work with you and not the upturned noses, jealous, backbiting attitudes and “I’ll gonna get ahead and don’t care how many people I have to step on to do it” mentality.
When you turn on the evening news you never have to hear about senseless murders, rapes, and kidnappings. What if you did not see homeless people or images of starving children because human beings from all walks of life made it a priority to use their minds, resources, and time to help someone, somewhere learn to read, finish school, or buy food for their family?
I know, it is not a perfect world we live in, but the examples I just cited are not even the tip of the iceberg of the utopia we could have if everyone became more committed to helping someone, anyone!
This Christmas, I invite you to demonstrate, albeit it in a relatively small way, the love Christ showed for us when He left Heaven to come to walk on this earth among imperfect mankind. While you are shopping this year, please help make someone else’s Christmas brighter. Below you will find just a few quick and easy “gift ideas.”
Help buy food for Americans who are struggling to buy their own at Feed America
Buy toys for a child whose parents are in jail Angel Tree
Buy warm clothing for children in Appalachia
Help end breast cancer by donating to Susan G. Komen ForThe Cure
Buy toys for the children of Marines thru Marine Toys For Tots
Feed a starving child overseas Food for the Poor
