“A Good Way To Spend and Be Spent this Christmas”
by brian rushing
In my previous post, I shared a quote from J. I. Packer: “…the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor — spending and being spent — to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others — and not just their own friends — in whatever way there seems need.”
I want to share with you a way that you can “spend and be spent” this Christmas… It is something that our family has begun doing each year to change our Christmas tradition.
In the past, Paige and I went to the stores throughout November and December with our list of people we had to buy gifts for. It was a long list (kind of like yours!). We scrambled to find something for everyone. But we kept realizing that it was hard to buy gifts for our family that they really needed. The reason? They already had everything they needed and more. In fact, all of our family members already have more stuff than fits in all their closets, shelves, and attics! Our houses are overflowing with “stuff.” Does this seem familiar to your experience?
So we discussed the issue and decided to experiment with a different way of gift-giving at Christmas – one that helps us to better embrace the spirit of giving at Christmas. Here’s how we do it – Each adult in the family brings $50 to pool with one another (you could set a different limit, but we landed on $50). We then take the pooled amount of money and have the children in the family look through a “Missions Catalog,” such as the Samaritan’s Purse “Help Others at Christmas” gift catalog. The children then choose how we will spend our money to help others. The children have a great time in picking out items to help other children and families around the world – baby chickens, a hive of honeybees, a fishing boat, medicine, livestock… whatever they want to choose. So instead of the kids searching through a toy catalog for gifts for themselves, they end up searching through a catalog of gifts to give to other people in real need! This leads to some great “teachable moments” as we discuss with them how missionaries use the gifts to share Christ with the families who receive the presents. After selecting the gifts we will provide, we pause to say a prayer asking God to use these gifts to bless the families that receive them and to draw those family members to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
I know of others in our church family that have begun doing something similar, even giving gifts to one another in the form of donations to important ministries. I know of children who had received their Christmas money and wanted to add some of their “just received funds” into the adult “pool” of money to increase what could be purchased.
It is great to finish our celebration with our families and feel a real sense that we had helped each other better understand the real meaning of Christmas – celebrating what Christ did for us and how important it is that we share Him with others. I love the idea of “giving gifts” to one another that go to help spread God’s Word all over the world to families who need to hear of the great love of Jesus! During this Christmas season, I hope that you will continue to think of ways to help your family be “on mission” for God – spending and being spent – even if that leads to “non-traditional” ideas!
If you would like to do something similar with your family, let me give you two possible sites you can visit to find great ideas:
Samaritan’s Purse
(Search for their Holiday Gift Catalog. You can view the catalog items online or even download the catalog as a .pdf file)
International Mission Board’s Strategic Projects
(You can click on “All Projects” to see all 116 items that the different missionaries are striving to do – such as the Hope Haven Wheelchair project that I recommend!).