What Christmas Is, and Was
My 11-year old sister, Naomi, enjoys both writing and speaking and has for several years now written a short speech to share with the rest of the family on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year were both very low-key and relaxing. Following our traditional dinner of hors d’oeuvres and the yearly search for one gift, guided by the clues my Dad writes for each of us, Naomi shared with us the following:
What Christmas Is, and Was
You all know that at Christmas everyone buys gifts for each other. And we do remember Christ’s birth, at least somewhat, but we get so carried away in gifts and other things like getting ready to travel, and saying we’re not going to make it on time, etc.... I’ve really realized that in the past years of Christmas I’ve wanted all these sorts of things, but I’ve finally realized that I have everything in front of me. I have my family and I have God as my Savior and that’s all I need. I asked for a few things but I don’t need them, because they’re not that important. But the thing that most of you would think is weird is that I’m not very excited about getting gifts. But I’m excited about spending time with you, and watching others open their gifts, and the most important is celebrating Jesus birthday. You know what I’ve found is that it’s a lot more fun to give than to receive, and that it’s more important to give than to receive.
I’m sure all of you know the story of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus, but do we really look into what the story is trying to tell you and me? If God didn’t send his son to die for our sins, then this world would turn to death, hatred, and violence, and that’s why God sent us here - so we could share the love that Jesus shared. So that more believers of God would go to Heaven when He takes all the believers of him up to Heaven one day. He’s relying on us to do his work, so we need to share the love of God, in such little time we have. God might not change their hearts, but he will always encourage us to go farther. I ask you guys today to really think about this, and share the gospel of Christ, so that together we might be a resemblance of Christ.
Permission for reprint granted by Naomi Wickham.
8 Comments:
Very wise words from someone so young! (o:
Thank you giving permission to share your sobering and uplifting words with us, Naomi. I agree that giving gifts is much more fun than receiving them. Especially when the recipent is not expecting them or is truly surprised by the gift. I appreciated your admonition to point us toward sharing the gospel. That is indeed what Christmas is about: God sending his only Son to be a Saviour to the people on earth from sin and death.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Naomi. Great thoughts, Natalie. You and your family are precious.
Thanks for your kind words, Mrs. B and Lydia. I passed them on to Naomi. I know they will mean a lot to her.
~Natalie
Thanks,
Mrs B. and Lydia I appreciate your kind words. I'm thankful for people who have the same type of heart to share the gospel as I do. I thank you for your very nice thoughts.
Even though I'm only 11 years old, and I know what to say, is because God gives me the right words to say each year for my Christmas story. And because my mom and dad have brought me up in a very Godly home. And over the past couple years, of being a christian has really impact on my life. So you might want to thank my parents also, for being good christian parents, who obey God's commands. And I wouldn't be able to shre my Christmas story with you, if I wasn't brought up in a wonderful christian home. Like I was, and still am. God bless you!
-Naomi-
Naomi: You are VERY blessed, indeed, to be brought up in a Christian home with parents who love and train you! How WONDERFUL that you appreciate it.
God's blessings for you in 2006!
Hey,
Mrs. B I was wondering, when I was writing the "thank you!" comment I realized I didn't know who you were. So if you could tell me that would be great. Unless you don't want people to know what your full name is, on the blog.:) Don't worry when I mention your name on the blog I won't say your whole name. You have my word.:)
-Naomi-
I second the words above, and wonder what you think of this idea: a gift is supposed to reflect the great gift God gave us, namely His Son. That great gift is given by the Father to His children. So how if a family's covenant head, usually the father, were to give his family one good gift each Christmas? No other gifts from anyone to anyone else.
I should think such a scheme would have distinct advantages, not the least of which would be a decreased tendency to be materialistic during the December month. One pastor of mine described how he always went into a "December sulk", because of the crass commercialism and materialism of the season. Another advantage would be a more direct reflection of the Great Gift.
Oh, um, little tip that I received from my brother, which I pass on to you. I don't know whether you have had run-ins with spam comments, but you can preemptively strike at them by requiring word verification, and feature available on most blogs.
In Christ.
Hey, welcome back to the blogosphere, Adrian. Interesting idea. (Not sure how it would work in my family, though, since my Dad doesn't normally buy his own gifts for us anyway! :-) )
To be honest, I don't personally feel a lot of the effects of all the commercialism because I do almost all of my Christmas shopping either on-line or throughout the year and I rarely go shopping otherwise. So it just doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. I love the whole Thanksgiving and Christmas season and giving gifts to others.
Materialism is really only a symptom of other root issues and cannot be effectively combatted merely by choosing not to exchange gifts. In all actuality, the "tendency to be materialistic" is not present only during the month of December, but perhaps just manifests itself with more noticeable force at that time due to the expectations that are placed on consumers by the over-emphasized tradition of exchanging gifts.
In effect, you could launch into an all-out effort to persuade everyone to stop exchanging Christmas gifts (save for the head of household gift), but that would not address the problem of materialism. In fact, maybe it would even fuel it more - hey, if I'm saving all that money not buying gifts for others, just think of how many other gadgets and gizmos I can buy for myself!
That said, I can definitely see how your idea would more closely symbolize the gift of God in Christ than our current practice of everyone exchanging gifts. I think it could be very meaningful if done that way.
I do have the capability to set up word verification, but haven't experienced any trouble with spam comments yet. If it does become an issue, I will be quick to implement that option. Thanks for the tip!
Post a Comment
<< Home