This Christmas morning, I'm thankful. My wife spend her birthday last week in the hospital. She wound up being hospitalized for two additional days, and the very last of our emergency funds were exhausted between that and the lost income for the hospital stay.
Still we are blessed. We live in a nation of abundance, and have so much to be grateful for. We had already purchased Christmas gifts for the family, so we didn't have to worry about there being no Christmas because of the latest developments.
Still, a look across my friends' pages reminds me of what a starkly different life we lead than they do. Not a better one, not a worse one, but a different one. And one for which I am immensely grateful.
Growing up, I was pretty much aware of the nonexistence of Santa Claus by my kindergarten year. As we sat together in class, and told each other what gifts we had, I noticed that socks, secondhand books and toys with most of the parts missing didn't compete with the Evel Knievel stunt bikes, and later, Atari, then Nintendo systems that my friends received. It was clear that Santa had a different sack of toys for those of us who lived in government housing.
I resolved to save my children that embarrassment, because I was pretty sure we would never be wealthy. I am thankful that I've never planned for wealth, because, while we enjoy a life of abundance, it is not one that most people in the US would envy. But we have been blessed in so many ways that never show up on a balance sheet.
We spent about $200 for Christmas. That's it. No, not per person, for all 9 of our family members. Well, that's not quite true; we put in another $65 in stocking stuffers from Dollar Tree. It is the only time of year that we buy candy, and you can get dollar store candy pretty cheap, so we do.
So many pictures and videos, though, of expensive presents and gifts. I don't begrudge those families that; again, they live a different lifestyle than we do, and that's OK. What I don't like about it, though, is that when I go to the Bible and teach my children to be servants of God, to give sacrificially, and then have to explain to them why Santa gave them that $10 magic set despite their abundantly giving hearts, but gave one of their friends an IPad.
I'm not encouraging anyone to give differently; we all have different resources, and different things to give. And certainly we should celebrate our family as we see fit. But if we teach them that these gifts come from "Santa", we are teaching the wrong message; that one's worth rests in their wealth. And that somehow, those kids in the poor families don't measure up, and no matter how sincerely they plead, Santa will not have room on his sled for their gifts.
And if we teach them that Santa is deaf to the pleas of the poor kids, how, then, will they view God?
No comments:
Post a Comment