This time of year most of us are focused on giving. Gifts, time, charitable contributions; the list is endless. For those of us with more family than money, this is an especially difficult season. We try to get creative and shop smart, but the truth is that little kids do not lie awake at night dreaming that they will find a package of socks and underwear underneath the tree on Christmas morning. They want video games and talking Iron Man and Buzz Lightyear toys.
It is easy for parents to feel sad or embarrassed or inadequate. We fear that come Christmas morning we will disappoint the children in our lives to some degree. We recoil at the critical stare of those collecting for all sorts of charities when we are unable to help them meet their goals. It is difficult to explain to various people at church why we do not have the time to volunteer for free gift wrapping in the mall or a Christmas cookie giveaway as an outreach to share Christ with busy shoppers.
We tell ourselves that we are just plain selfish if we do not somehow come up with the money to buy those really special gifts or make that generous contribution. After all, isn’t that why someone invented credit cards? Furthermore, if we refuse to make time to perform all sorts of acts of kindness during this most wonderful time of the year doesn’t that prove that we are sort of a cross between Scrooge and the Grinch?
In times like these we will do well to remember what Paul says to the Corinthians: “…it isn’t important how much you have to give. God wants you to give what you have, not what you haven’t” (2 Corinthians 8:12, The Living Bible). God never expects anyone to give more than he has, and the Bible addresses this point in numerous places.
We have the example of the widow’s pennies (Mark 12:42). Jesus sat watching the crowds dropping their money into the collection boxes in the Temple. Some who were rich deposited large sums. Then the poor widow came and dropped in two pennies. Jesus told his disciples that she had given more than all of the rich men put together because they had given only a small portion of their great wealth while she had given everything she had.
Likewise, Mark 14:3-10 recounts the story of the woman who came to Jesus and poured the flask of expensive perfume over his head. She washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. The Jewish leaders criticized her for her “waste,” but Jesus told them to leave her alone. “She has done what she could….And I tell you this in solemn truth, that wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and praised" (The Living Bible).
These women gave it all. They gave everything they had, but they did not give what they did not have. Their giving was sacrificial but it was kept within the bounds of what they had to give—no more and no less. Jesus himself proclaimed that these two women had gotten it exactly right.
As we head into the last few days before Christmas, I hope that you will remember these women of faith and follow their example. Give what you have in terms of gifts, charitable contributions and time. Be generous, but remember it’s alright to buy one special toy for your little guy and also include the package of socks and underwear beneath the tree. Make a list of your special offerings and stick to it. Unless you know that God is leading you to give something that you had not anticipated, don’t feel guilty about saying, “I can’t.” Time is the only thing that is always limited; you can never make more than twenty-four hours in one day, no matter how hard you try. Save some of it to spend with your family, and take some to enjoy the wonder of Christmas yourself. Most of all remember to give what you have, not what you haven’t. Jesus says that is enough.
Joyce Swann is a nationally-known speaker and author. Her book, Looking Backward: My Twenty-Five Years as a Homeschooling Mother, tells her own story of homeschooling her ten children from the first grade through master's degrees before their seventeenth birthdays. For more information, visit her website at http://www.frontier2000.net/ or like her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/frontier2000mediagroup.
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