How to Give Gifts this Christmas

On our drive home, we pass by this church with a lawn sign that often has something on it that we can laugh about... I know, I know... c'mon, but it's funny! :-) This week though, what they have on the sign is actually quite witty... thought-provoking even. It says:

Christmas is not your birthday!

I love it! Don't you?

Such a simple truth... yet missed by sooooo many! Missed by us, Christ-followers. Whose birthday are we celebrating anyway... when we smother ourselves and our children with over-indulgent gifts, focusing on "us" rather than those around us who are in need!

Greg Boyd (@greg_boyd) tweeted this today:

X-MAS INSANITY: multitudes stress out b/c they "can't find something" to buy loved ones while children in their community need food.

Ah, so true. 
So sad.
So wrong!

So... how should we, as Christ-followers, celebrate Christmas? Whose birthday is it anyway?

Off to school with Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes for his class to fill.

Deck the halls... and the window! :-)

Our Christmas tree... before being decorated.

Decorating the tree...

As we celebrate Advent and prepare for Christmas, our family is intentionally being mindful of whose birthday it is... the true meaning of why we celebrate in the first place!

All done!

This year, for the very first time... there will be less for ourselves under the tree so that we can give more Jesus birthday presents... living simply in order to give generously.

He must increase and I must decrease. (John 3:30, CEB)

... to those around us in dire need, in want, in poverty... to the least of these. This year, we will be doing Christmas radically!

Then the King will answer, 'I tell you the truth, anything you did for even the least of my people here, you also did for me.' (Matthew 25:40, NCV)

So... Christmas shopping on your mind?

How about a squealing pig, an egg-laying chicken or a milk-producing goat for the least of these in Rwanda, India, Uganda and Burkina Faso?

How about the gift of greenhouse farming, carpentry or an opportunity to start a small business for the least of these in Kenya, Ethiopia and Nicaragua?

How about a pile of books or computers for the least of these in Haiti, Colombia and Ghana?

How about vaccinations for babies, the least of these, in Ecuador and the Philippines?

How about a toilet for the least of these in Bolivia and El Salvador?

Intrigued?
Interested?
Yes?

Then, hurry up and check out Compassion Canada's Gifts of Compassion... gifts that will keep on giving!

I am blessed. I can bless. Imagine! I could let Him make me the gift!

I could be joy!

~ Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts

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I promise you will be blessed!

Unwrapping more of His love in this world.

Act justly.  Love mercy.  Walk humbly with God!