Patti Burris

This last weekend saw the kick-off of the Christmas season. It started with Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. It continued with Small Business Saturday and ended with Cyber Monday. The purpose of each of these days is to reinforce commercialism and consumerism in what should be a sacred time of year. Christmas has become a stress-filled, frantic time of year when people spiral into debt and depression. It isn’t supposed to be this way. It was NEVER supposed to be this way! I admit that in the past years I have stressed over not having enough money to buy my kids “enough”. Ultimately, within a week, the gifts would be lost, broken or forgotten. Buried in a corner, like what most of us do to Jesus, the reason we have a Christmas at all.

I decided this year would be different for me. I am buying each of my kids a gift I know they will use and enjoy. I have put up a simple tree. I am not worried about buying a huge amount of gifts for my kids. It isn’t about what we get. It is about what we can give. Jesus gave us the gift of all gifts, His life. Let’s honor Him this season and give to those who may not have a Christmas at all. There are homeless men, women and children in our own cities that will not have Christmas because of poverty. There are children living in the foster care system, who will not have a Christmas. I know, I was one of them. There are men and women serving in our military who are stationed far from their families, who will spend Christmas alone in their barracks.

Christmas is not about buy, buy, buy and me, me, me. It is about giving people the gift of love and respect. It is about giving the gift of yourself to someone who may be hurting or heartbroken. Most importantly, it is a time to share the gift of Jesus with those around you. I am challenging you to forget the commercialism of Christmas and remember why we have a Christmas at all. His name is Jesus.

Jesus is the only Christmas gift that any of us really needs. Remember Jesus!