When it comes to our moral fiber, most holidays offer us a prodding reminder of who and what we should be striving to be each and every day. Are you listening to this call and learning from it, or are you being distracted by the “buy” messages of retailers?
What’s The Reason For The Season?
Most all holidays deliver some pretty profound life lessons for us if we stay focused on the origins, and our lives become enriched beyond measure when we take the insights from each occasion to become better people. The best part is that it’s all free.
Valentines Day, for example, teaches us about love and commitment when we have someone to share it with. If you pay attention, there’s a free reminder that love is an action verb rather than a phrase of convenience, and that concept has nothing to do with dozens of roses and boxes of candy. For those without a significant other, the message of self-reliance, patience, and never settling for less than you deserve is just as loud.
Whether it be honor, service, and sacrifice from military holidays or forgiveness and repentance from Easter, there’s so much more to holidays than backyard barbecues and fancy goody baskets.
Unfortunately, many of us have lost the true meanings, lessons, and gifts of the holiday season by focusing on the novelty of it all. We’ve become pressured to spend money we don’t have on gifts others don’t need. We are marketed to prioritize elements like decor and foodstuffs that are all but meaningless in the big scheme of life.
You Can Stop The Commercialization Cycle Of Christmas.
Christmas is perhaps the worst offender when it comes to lost meanings. Retailers have materialized the holiday to the point that the singular focus in many homes is bigger and better gifts and decorations, and it all often starts before Halloween costumes have even cleared the shelves.
Too many kids yearn for the next gadget, not a relationship with Christ. Too many adults are maxing out credit lines in an attempt to please loved ones with the best gifts, whether needed or not.
Retailers may turn their books from red to black thanks to Christmas sales, but your spirit certainly doesn’t thrive in falling into their marketing trap.
Are you a customer buying the glitter and glam in masses verses remembering that some of the best gifts in the world can’t be bought or sold? If so, I invite you to remember the origins of Christmas before you start swiping your credit card this year.
There’s a story behind Christmas, and the tangible gift element is but a very small part. The real story of Christmas is an introduction to the building blocks of moral fiber and the gifts that can be harnessed from applying that moral fiber to all you do, say, think, and feel.
Think for a moment about gifting your time, talents, extra assets, and so forth to others. You become a savior or inspiration for someone. In turn, you’re gifting yourself with empowerment, satisfaction, humility, happiness, and so much more.
I encourage you to think beyond materialism this Christmas by putting Christ back in the equation. Be a giver and recipient of the lessons, not possessions, that really matter.
