As I’ve entered this season of rest, I continue to grow more and more restless. Who highjacked me? I didn’t plan on feeling so bold. There is a fire inside me that wants to speak for all those who have no voice. I feel a deep sense for Americans to wake up and focus on what really matters. Love. Forgiveness. Freedom. Our savior. Others.
Christmas has me in a mysterious place. I feel passionate about my relationship with God. I know this rest is important and God’s will for me. My gratitude continues to grow. So much to notice and be thankful for.
However I am also extremely disturbed. I pray this sentence all the time. “Break my heart with what breaks yours.” I don’t know why I am surprised when God answers my prayers, but I am. Maybe because God answers in ways I never imagined. Like this heaviness!
Here’s what is disturbing me: Materialism. America’s current debt. Living a lie. Too much stuff. Storage units filled with trinkets and furniture never used. Families feeling overwhelmed and depressed because they cannot buy lots of gifts. Do we need lots? The mindset of kids thinking they “need” $300 and $400 electronic toys to be happy or to fit in.
And my biggest burden: People missing out the real meaning of Christmas. Jesus!
Funny thing is I felt this burden for days now and then came across this section from the book I am reading, Into the Depths of God by Calvin Miller. Miller quotes from Leadership magazine 9 steps for Westerns to take to identify with the developing world.
“First, take out the furniture: leave a few old blankets, a kitchen table, maybe a wooden chair. You’ve never had a bed, remember?
Second, throw out your clothes. Each person in the family may keep the oldest suit or dress or blouse. The head of the family has the only pair of shoes.
Third, all kitchen appliances has vanished. Keep a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a handful or onions, a dish of dried beans. Rescue the moldy potatoes from the garbage can: those are tonight’s dinner.
Fourth, dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, take out the wiring and the lights and everything that runs by electricity.
Fifth, take away the house and move the family into the tool shed.
Sixth, no more postman, fireman, government services. The two-classroom school is three miles away, but only two of your seven children attend anyway, and they walk.
Seventh, throw our your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, insurance policies. You now have a cash hoard of $5.
Eighth, get our and start cultivating your three acres. Try hard to raise $300 in cash crops because your landlord wants one-third and your moneylender 10 percent.
Ninth, find some way for your children to bring in a little extra money so you have something to eat most days. But it won’t be enough to keep bodies healthy–so lop off 25 to 30 years of life.”
My heart cry is that this Christmas we all will take the pressure is off to buy, buy, buy. Instead I pray we take time to experience the wonder of Christ’s birth. Cherish our loved ones. Enjoy Christmas songs. Sip hot chocolate. Love deeper. Take a night to visit neighborhood Christmas lights. Watch Christmas classics. Tell family stories. Visit friends. Make phone calls. Celebrate Advent. Read the Word. Attend parties. Take too many pictures. And of course, laugh!
We are a blessed nation, the wealthiest people in the world. We have so much. Too much. I want to make this Christmas as Christ-centered as possible. I want to stop the madness of too much stuff.
Am I saying gifts are wrong? Not at all. I just think we should really prayerfully consider what God wants our Christmases to look like this year.
I’m hoping to start a new holiday tradition of less stuff! That requires opening my hands and giving up things I cling to. Like my trinkets or a present. That means when I buy gifts this year, I put back the one for me. That requires a change in my thinking. It’ll be hard work. I’ll be tested to cave in. But I trust God will give me strength as I learn to let His Spirit live in me. I want more of my greatest gift this Christmas. Something that doesn’t fade or need dusting or washing or storage.
His presence!
What God wants us to treasure is inward and spiritual. Only as we get the God’s-eye view of things can we escape becoming forever trapped in minor material hungers and surface values.
~Calvin Miller~
Here it is Xmas pretty soon and how I will miss my grandchildren and my children and their spouses. What fun I remember we had one year all trying on santa’s suit and santa coming to the house. Last year and this year how I thought of putting a homespun Xmas for everyone and here it is the 9th of december already and I have not started anything. So here are some ideas about gift giving without spending so much money. Or are just heart felt. Make a tray of all our favorite cookies or bars.If you are a saver sew something out of all your childrens old clothing. Put together a memories box. Make some whole made jelly. Bake a loaf of home made bread and tuck and new dish towel with it. Make some home made banana bread. Wrap tea cup and saucer with favored tea. Make your own gift wrap with brown paper and Xmas stamp and ink or cut potato and make ones own stamp. Wrap up a box with a note saying one free day of house cleaning or babysitting that you may give someone. Some people may not have much money this year so be creative. Write something or draw something and frame it.But most of all have fun. Wrap up something you already have that someone else might enjoy. MOM
I ran across your blog from Kimberly’s. I was moved by your post–thanks for the reminder. We are so blessed–and stuff is kind of disgusting me, too.
Nice to meet you–God bless.
Great post! I am trying to get rid of things myself. Too much stuff! May we all focus inward and upward this year! Thanks for the reminder my friend!
Oh Tiffany… what a great post. So many people get so caught up in the consumerism of the season and just give our Lord the leftovers, we all have it backwards.
This year we are not buying near as many presents, primarily because our budget will not allow it, but it has been so freeing to not have to be out in the crowds shopping and not trying to decide what to get that person who has everything already. It has been wonderful to be able to focus more on the meaning of the season and to spend time with my children teaching them about the real meaning of Christmas.
I am like you, I want more of Jesus, I want to be more surrendered to Him, to hear Him more, to know what breaks His heart, and what brings Him joy…
I wish we lived close to each other so we could get together for times of prayer and fellowship… what a blessing that would be!
Keep seeking Him!
Blessings!
Tiffany,
Just stopping by my friend to say hello. Beautiful post and such a beautiful truth.
Letting go seems to be a theme God has me on too right now. I’m so grateful for His presence.
Blessings to you!
I have prayed that same prayer many times as well for the Lord to break my heart for what breaks His. He will oblige and sometimes it is not the most pleasant experience but the most eye openeing.
Convicted! That’s how I feel. We are so blessed, are we not? thank you for being this voice, friend. I need reminded to stay where the meaning is!
thank you, also, for your sweet comments on my blog. Yes, I believe we have some similarities in our past. Isn’t it amazing how God rescued us, but also how He uses it all?
You bless…
We continue to walk the same path, my friend. Have you been over to my blog this week? I told a little about life out in the Masai Mara on Monday. Today I have a 2 minute video clip up. Last week’s LWG – same thing. It’s just flowing from me right now. Thankful Thursday – tomorrow – more of the same.
Have a blessed evening of rest.
Tiffany, As a single parent, I grieve because I could not buy my sons what they wanted. One year, I told the boys that our Christmas presents were buying presents for another family that had nothing. We got their wish list. I took the boys to the store. They picked out all the clothes and toys themselves, then wrapped them. When we took them to the home, the tree was bare, as was the floor underneath the tree. I placed the turkey and all the trimmings on the bare table in a bare kitchen. Kyle jumped up and down so excited. He wanted them to open their presents, “Right now!” But I explained, they would open their presents on Christmas Day. As single parent, that was one of our best Christmases.