every year around this time i start to get excited because christmas starts to take shape in all forms; lights on houses, music rings through the air, the smell of the christmas tree in my house (mmm). however, amongst all the excitement there is always a feeling of irritation and uneasiness in my body (literally i feel anxious) that i have been unable to explain, until now. did you know that lack of clean water kills more people everyday then anything else? and here is the thing, the estimated cost to make clean water available to everyone is 10 billion dollars. that's a lot, i know! BUT last year alone the united states and canada spent over 800 billion dollars on christmas. are you feeling a bit anxious now after reading that??
sitting in church today it dawned on me what this irritation might be caused by, money, money, money. while i was supposed to be sitting in church listening to my pastor start to unfold the christmas story i was busy making a list of my finances for the month; rent, bills, gifts for everyone and their dog. not only did i think of who i have to buy for but what i would buy and would everything add up to be about equal money value for each person - heaven knowns i wouldn't want to spend way more on one person then the other, that's not fair is it? then there is the task of trying to find time to get all this done. but wait a second, isn't the christmas season meant for spending time with loved ones?
i continued on this path of questioning with things like, do i really want to put myself in debt this year to make sure i get the most amazing gifts for everyone i know?, do i really want to buy a gift just out of obligation?, better yet do i want someone to buy me a gift out of obligation? the answer is no to all the above. however i am just as guilty of doing all these things as i'm sure you probably are.
as i mentioned in a few posts earlier i know i am truly blessed to be financially privileged and be able to have the choice to purchase gifts for the people i love. but i tend to get wrapped up in the 'spend, spend, spend' mentality that is swarming around me and when i stop to think about why i am 'spending, spending, spending' that's when the uneasiness sets in. i do it because that's just what we do.
in church right now we are studying a series called 'advent conspiracy'. the base of the study is about looking at the meaning of christmas, the real meaning of christmas. what was once a time to celebrate the birth of our savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.
what would happen if we spent less, but still gave? give some of your time, volunteered, made our gifts, baking is always nice! or what if instead of buying that sweater for your fifth cousin once removed (because again, we have to buy for everyone, we wouldn't want to leave anyone out), donate the money you would have spent to places like the womens shelter or the mustard seed in her name.
christmas is a wonderful season; if we can get it right. december should be a month to look forward to because of the rest and relaxation that should take place. the extra time that should be spent with family and friends. instead it becomes the most stressful time of the year with our long lists of things to do and our credit card bills that are being racked up.
how do we solve this problem? do you and your loved ones do anything that's maybe a bit different then spend, spend, spend your money on each other?
christmas is a wonderful season; if we can get it right. december should be a month to look forward to because of the rest and relaxation that should take place. the extra time that should be spent with family and friends. instead it becomes the most stressful time of the year with our long lists of things to do and our credit card bills that are being racked up.
how do we solve this problem? do you and your loved ones do anything that's maybe a bit different then spend, spend, spend your money on each other?
No comments:
Post a Comment