Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Gratitude is a character trait that I value greatly and consider a priority to instill in my children. As a result, I hate to rush through Thanksgiving to get to Christmas. The displays everywhere 'rushing the season' aggravate me a bit.
That said, I know many people start their Christmas shopping early. (Personally, I try to be done by December 1, so I can enjoy a less-stressful month of celebration with my family. I am not sure I will meet that goal this year. I am a long way off!)
I was introduced to The Advent Conspiracy by a friend a few weeks ago. My small group started the 4 week study today. As I went online to research it for my small group, I came across a pretty thought-provoking article about the types of gifts we give and why.
It was interesting enough I thought it warranted passing along. Some of these points were cringe inducing for me, but definitely food for thought and prayerful consideration.
"You see the heart of the matter is the matter of the heart. When are hearts are aligned with God's will and our intentions are pure, then even the most audaciously overcommercialized toy is a beautiful gift to give. The problem is not how many gifts, how much we spend or who we give gifts to. The problem is our heart is no longer in Christmas. Just look under the tree and ask, "Which of these gifts are not heartfelt". Those should all be returned." -Rich Kottmeyer
Yikes!
P.S. The Rethinking Christmas site (linked above) is also a great resource for ideas for low cost/high meaning gifts.
5 comments:
Something about you mentioning that Thanksgiving is your favorite holiday made me think I should send you this link--
http://www.joyshope.com/2010/11/i-heart-big-hearts.html
A friend of mine has a GREAT kid-friendly activity they do as a family for Thanksgiving. Reminds me of something you might do with your trio....
Now, off to go see about Rethinking Christmas... :)
Oh my! GULP. I think I'll be returning some!! YIKES!!
I think the heart behind a gift is always the most important part - now if only I could make sure to live up to that in all my gifts!
My Sunday School class is looking for an Advent study. I tried to find the 4-week study on the Advent Conspiracy website, but was unsuccessful. Would you mind sending me (or posting) the link? Thank you!
Hey J,
If you get the book (I ordered on Amazon) there is a discussion guide in the back that breaks the book into a four week study.
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