'Tis the Season

I almost can't stand it...I've been itching to listen to Christmas music for weeks now, but I'm trying to hold off. I hope I can make it at least one more week, but the promise of the holiday season is making me more excited with each passing day. Despite the fact that I no longer make myself sick with excitement like I literally did as I child, I'm glad that I still look forward to a time of year that seems to cause so many Americans (especially women) distress.


It's easy to get caught up in the commercialism of Christmas--in our materialism and greed. I know that I'm extremely guilty of it...I started making my mental Christmas list months ago. But I think that it's this same materialism and greed that are precisely the reasons why our country is in the middle of an economic crises. We want, want, want. We've become so accustom to getting things we want right when we want them, that we've confused wanting things with needing them. We need that new pair of jeans, that new iPod, and that new car. And yet, we have no idea what the word "need" really means.


But there are people in this world who do. There are people in this world that truly understand that basic things like food and water are necessary in order to survive. They don't think beyond their needs because they don't have access to things beyond their basic needs...and sadly, many of them don't even have access to their basic needs.


I wish that I could say that I'm not greedy, and that I haven't fallen victim to the ideology of entitlement that has pervaded our culture, but I would be lying if I said that I haven't. It's a mindset that I desperately want to change. So this Christmas I'm taking a small step towards a more charitable way of living...you can take it too.


There's a program sponsored by Samaritan's Purse, an international relief organization, called Operation Christmas Child. By filling a shoe box with things from crayons and coloring books, to a toothbrush and toothpaste, you can give a child who truly understands the meaning of the word "need" a taste of the everyday luxuries that you and I tend to take for granted. I can imagine that they will be more excited about the contents of a gift-filled shoe box (which cost me a mere $30) than I will be about all of my Christmas presents combined.


So eat out a few less times this month, grab that shoe box out of your closet that contained that $60 pair of shoes that you "needed," and dedicate your time and resources to someone who will experience true joy from receiving them. I know that money is tight, that we're in an unstable economic state, but I promise that there are people in this world that have far less than any of us ever will. And through such a simple gesture, you'll share with them--and yourself--the real "reason for the season."