If in pursuit of making our kids happy we rob them of our presence in their lives, we’ve missed our greatest opportunity. What they need is relationship—not with a screen, a gadget, or a piece of plastic, but with the people most important in their lives.
Photo Credit: Free photo: Christmas, Star, Winter, Family – Free Image on …
‘Tis the season when kids make their lists and we check them twice, determined to please the ones we love with that perfect gift. But before we gear up for another trip to the shopping mall, let’s take the time to stop. Breathe. Put those lists down. And consider.
What is it our kids truly need?
Written between the lines of holiday wants lies something deeper. Something more costly than anything our imaginations can conjure up. Something that can’t be bought at the mall.
My friend once lamented that she got a second job so she could get her kids all they needed, only to find they needed something more. Her hours of labor provided for material things while robbing her family of precious time together. She was slowly losing her kids to technology, and eventually to gangs, drugs, and more. Looking back, her greatest regret was missing out on her kids’ lives for the sake of getting them more stuff.
As we think of the kids in our lives, most everyone would agree one of our greatest endeavors is to make them happy. It’s at this juncture that we stand to lose the very thing we venture to gain. If in pursuit of making our kids happy we rob them of our presence in their lives, we’ve missed our greatest opportunity. What they need is relationship—not with a screen, a gadget, or a piece of plastic, but with the people most important in their lives.
If stacking up gifts under the tree means racking up credit card debt that will consign us to overtime labor in the coming year, it’s not worth it. Deep down, our kids don’t want to be home alone with things while we slave away at the office just to pay it all off. More than our presents, they need our presence. They want, and need, us. IN their lives. It’s the greatest gift we can give, to them…and to ourselves.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
Photo Credit:File:Christmas lights strung on snow-covered fence.JPG – Wikimedia …
As much as I love the atmosphere of snow during this season, I’ve learned it’s not any more necessary than gifts or decorations. A snowless Christmas can’t take away the symbolism. It can’t erase the story of a baby born to die for our sins. So let it snow, or let it…not snow. I will be grateful for the hope that can thaw the coldest of hearts…a hope that will never melt away.
Photo Credit: Christmas Ornament | Free Stock Photo | A red Christmas ornament …
A forecast of sixty degrees and sunny does not make for a happy Midwesterner come Christmastime. We grow up expecting snow as some sort of holiday birthright, our desire for it so great we’ve made it the theme of several songs—though we must admit it’s somewhat contradictory to string Let it Snow, White Christmas, and I’ll be Home for Christmas in the same playlist. Do we really want another Snowmageddon if we’re trying to hit the roads or catch a flight home? That white Christmas we’re dreaming of might mean we won’t be home for Christmas after all. Although this year, it looks like we’re getting more than what we asked for.
The first Christmas happened so long ago, we can’t say with any certainty whether there was snow or not. Snow is rare, though not impossible, in the region where Jesus was born. And some historians suggest his actual birthday was not a winter event.
Whether or not he was born in winter, I find it to be a fitting season for the symbolism of the holiday. The ground covered in a blanket of white is reminiscent of God’s promise, “though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white as snow.” That’s why Jesus came. And a hero who would live to die for the salvation of the world deserves to be celebrated. I call December 25 Jesus’ birthday observed.
As much as I love the atmosphere of snow during this season, I’ve learned it’s not any more necessary than gifts or decorations. A snowless Christmas can’t take away the symbolism. It can’t erase the story of a baby born to die for our sins. So let it snow, or let it…not snow. I will be grateful for the hope that can thaw the coldest of hearts…a hope that will never melt away.
Before we gear up for another trip to the shopping mall, let’s take the time to stop. Breathe. Put those lists down. And consider. What is it our kids truly need?
Photo Credit: Candles, Travel, Vacation – Free images on Pixabay
If stacking up gifts under the tree means racking up credit card debt that will consign us to overtime labor in the coming year, it’s not worth it. Deep down, our kids don’t want to be home alone with things while we slave away at the office just to pay it all off.
Photo Credit: File:The Shops at Georgetown Park.jpg – Wikimedia Commons
This Life & Beyond 
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