I personally can’t wait to be home for the holidays and see friends and family for Christmas. I am sure that the majority of you would agree with me. It will be a great time to reflect and relax. But have you ever noticed how stressful the holidays truly can be? Every year the malls get packed full, with line-ups stretching out the doors. North American society has conditioned us to believe that at Christmas time we have to shop, shop, shop. What happened to the true meaning of Christmas?

According to adventconspiracy.org, Canadians spend $35,000,000,000 and Americans spend $450,000,000,000 (that’s right 450 Billion) a year on Christmas. Strangely enough it would only cost roughly $13,000,000,000 to bring fresh drinking water to the whole world.
Why have we become so consumed with consumerism? Does that bring us happiness and joy at Christmas time? How can we begin to make Christmas meaningful again?

Christmas marks the birth date of our Saviour. It is essentially a huge party where we can worship and celebrate our love for the Lord. It is a time to love and bring peace to everyone all around. Even soldiers put down their guns for one day to remember Christmas.

Doesn’t it just blow your mind at the amount that we spend on Christmas annually? What if we were able to spend less? Everyone loves gifts; there is nothing wrong with that. Do you ever feel obligated to give a gift, or receive a gift? What if we were able to let that one gift go and not spend unnecessarily? We would save more, and have more time to spend with others.

Maybe at Christmas we should spend less, but try to give more – does that make sense? Our gift could be time. I think Jack Johnson put it perfectly “She gives me presents with her presence alone” (Angel – Sleep Through The Static). We could simply just be there for our friends and family. Maybe we could give some time to visiting a homeless shelter and serving food, or visiting people in the hospital who have no one at Christmas. I’ve often thought, what if I gave some sort of service as a gift, such as preparing a meal, cleaning for my mom, or taking care of a lot of the outdoor chores for my dad.

Ultimately, the concept behind Christmas is love. Simply, love. “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1). Jesus came to save his people, us, because he loves us so much. Jesus became poor to love the poor, the sick and the forgotten. Maybe this Christmas we can all try to love like Jesus loved and instead of giving a present maybe simply give your presence.

For more information check out www.adventconspiacy.org

Matt Winger