The Best Things in Life Aren't Things

As Aaron and I were wrapping presents for A.J. and Micah the other night, I looked at Aaron and said...."boy, it doesn't look like much, does it". Why is it that, as parents, we feel the need to shower our kids with material "stuff"? I read the following email this morning and it struck a chord in me. How can I teach my kids that "the best things in life aren't things"?

Free at Christmas
Naomi Cramer Overton, President, MOPS International

Nothing on earth can separate you from the love of Christ. Not finances. Not disappointment. Not rejection. Not failure.Nothing. (See Romans 8:31-39.)

I walked by a TV as it blared, “It’s official. The recession started a year ago today,” and I thought “Did we really need that announcement?”

I had already begun to bear the weight of some of your stories coupled with my own, when I did something that changed my outlook. As I felt sad while unloading the dishwasher, I sang a Christmas carol. And later, I noticed it didn’t cost anything to marvel at my kids’ dark eyelashes, or to lean over and tell my son, “I’m thankful for you.” Or to twirl my daughter around as I came home.

Maybe we connect better with the grit, and hope, of Christmas when we’re stretched.

I don’t like the idea of a pregnant mom lurching along on a donkey’s back, or giving birth amidst stubble and filth. But, like Mary, maybe I’m learning that the best things have nothing to do with our comfort. It cost her, and it cost God even more, to bring us Jesus. Now we have love that nothing can take away.

That’s the gift I’m hugging this Christmas, and wishing for you as well!