My children, other people's children...they are talking. They are simply doing what we have conditioned them to do.
My oldest son (Garrison, 12) said to me a while back, "Mom, as you get older Christmas really changes. I don't have a bunch of stuff I want like when I was little. I think I have realized it's not about that."
We are so happy to hear these words!
I have found myself pondering how to use this holiday season to get my children focused on giving instead of getting.
In a few days, all over the U.S.A. we will sit around stuffing food into ourselves with little thought to the rest of the world. We won't be focused on the starving children of Africa or the homeless survivors of Haiti, nor the enslaved children of Cambodia and Thailand. We will be relishing in our abundance, for as my friend Adam says, "WE live in a delightful land."
We sure do. Even our poorest have means to government assistance. Many of us have no understanding of what truly lies beyond us.
Many of us just don't want to have our thoughts or hearts invaded with the uncomfortableness world awareness brings because we know if we do, we will feel compelled to do something to change it!
I have seen it. I have smelled it. I have tasted from the cup my fellow humans drink. Oh, it was but a small, small sip that I could immediately retreat from and run away from...back to my Delightful Land, but taste I have and I cannot ignore it.
No, strike that! I will not ignore it!
I can no longer think about my Thanksgiving feast without remembering this little boy in Nicaragua who shoveled food into his mouth like it was his first and last meal...this little boy who has bald patches on his head because he was so malnourished.
I rarely forget him on a daily basis as I listen to my sons complain about their food or watch them run freely into a well-stocked kitchen for a snack of their choice.
My eyes have been opened, and more importantly, my heart has been opened.
Thanksgiving isn't a mere holiday. Thanksgiving should be a selfless reaction!
It should be a recognition of gratitude that swells our hearts so big they burst and others receive the overflow!
If we are truly thankful, we are propelled to action...to give others what we have been given...to give back to God what He has given to us! And to give to all, no matter their geographical location, their culture, or the color of their skin.
James 1:26-27 (from The Message) Anyone who sets himself up as "religious" by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
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