It used to start around Thanksgiving, but the holiday season seems to start earlier and earlier every year. Apart from the gift catalogs that start flooding our mailboxes in early October and the many pitches for the various charities that start coming in November, people are already putting up Christmas lights.
The stores are flooded with all kinds of items you need and don’t need, from warm winter socks – and it is possible to buy socks NOT made in China – you just need to look – to useless items that will only be something to be discarded when your children have to clean out the house.
Finding something meaningful can be difficult in the midst of all the stuff on the store shelves. So, perhaps it’s time not to find that perfect gift on a store shelf but to give something of yourself. The knitters and crafters have it easier here, but what about those of us who aren’t so gifted? How do we share ourselves with the people we love, creating memories they’ll never forget? That’s the question.
Prayer for the Day
Holy One, we seek your Presence in our lives today,
And ask that your Spirit give expression to our hopes;
Tossed about by competing claims on our time and money,
We pray that we find ways to share your hope for the world.
Be with us as we wrestle with the dreams and demons of our lives
And bring us to a new understanding of your will for justice
In the name of the One who came to bring us your love and justice,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, he thought. “Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . .means a little more.”
- Dr. Seuss, from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, but how I love the gifts I give.
- Carolyn Wells, American author (1862-1942)
But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, O God, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
1 Chronicles 29:14