Reconsidering our Purpose this Christmas

"It's not about you." These are the first words found in the book "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren. It's a book many of us in our church are currently reading and hopefully digesting.

As Christmas comes around again, it's pretty easy to roll back into our traditional mindsets of gift-giving and gift-expecting as the lights, music, bargains, ads and the "spirit" of the season drive us. The holidays and the accompanying craziness are part of the fabric of our society and can be good to a certain extent unless taken to extremes. What if we tried to remain in a different Spirit this season and instead tried to incorporate this very important concept that Rick Warren has emphasized in this book - what if we NOT focus on ourselves this holiday?

What if, this time around, instead of expecting to get gifts from our loved ones, we actually look for ways to give gifts to people we don't even know but who actually need "stuff"? What if instead of shopping for cheap gifts that will not be appreciated the next day (or when a better gift is received), we looked for gifts that will truly change lives of people? Isn't is true that in order to meet the deadline (the 25th), we are often prone to just picking up something at the mall, wrapping it and then presenting it to the expectant recipient - because they're expecting a gift form us?

Consider this: I was listening to a radio article on NPR regarding the lost value of items given as gifts. For example, if you purchased a $100 gift for a friend, that recipient may not value the item as a $100 gift because they themselves wouldn't spend $100 to buy it - maybe they'd buy it if it was $80 or if it was half price. That means your gift lost at least $20 in "satisfaction value". Of course, this information is not based on scientific proof, but the economist on the program theorized that based on estimated US spending in the holiday season, the economy loses about 20% of "satisfaction" value on gift-giving, specially if it was thoughtless, as happens a lot during the holiday rush. Based on some non-scientific calculation, he estimates that the nation spends about $68 billion during the holidays. So the approximate loss of satisfaction value on gifts is around $13-14 billion dollars a year. Imagine that.

Now consider that instead of giving thoughtless gifts, what if you gave the gift of livelihood to an unemployed stuggling family in Ecuador? What if you gave the gift of safe dwelling to a flooded out farmer in the Philippines? What if you gave the gift of daily dairy (watch that tongue twister) to a family in Guatemala? Or maybe the gift of daily protein to children in Africa who rarely have any source of protein to survive? And can you imagine the priceless potential that the gift of education brings into the life of a child in a developing country who doesn't have access to education? I can guarantee you, the "satisfaction" value of this kind of gift increases because your gift may only cost you $20, $30 or even $100 but your recipient will value it a hundredfold, for a lifetime.

Now that's a practical way to take focus off of self, celebrate the season, stay in the "Spirit" of the holidays and even help the economy!

To find out how you can give a gift that increases in value, go to http://www.worldvision.org and browse the Gift Catalog.