Stuffocated Christmas

I’m STUFFOCATED! I have too many pairs of shoes, too many sets of dishes, too many power tools, too many knickknacks, and too many magazines coming to the house. I need a solid dose of Christmas.

Not the kind where I buy more things. Not the kind where I have to take 20 minutes to find a parking spot thus reserving me the right to go spend hundreds of dollars on stuff my family doesn’t need or want. I need the kind of Christmas that injects HOPE into my weary schedule. I need the kind of Christmas that brings a modicum of PEACE into my rat race. I need the kind of Christmas that brings LOVE into my broken relationships. I need the kind of Christmas that brings REST into my fast paced life. I need the kind of Christmas that bring ETERNITY into my temporary. 

Photo by Heidi Sandstrom. on Unsplash

There is a scene in Les Miserables where the workers are all sewing away and singing. “At the end of the day you got nothin to show for….At the end of the day it’s another day over”. There’s not much hope in that sewing line up nor is there much hope in another Les Mis moment; a song sung by the deeply hurt character, Fantine. She’d just been fired from her job at a factory and was facing life on the street. Thinking back to better days, she sings “I dreamed a dream in time gone by…When hope was high and life worth living….I dreamed that love would never die….I dreamed that God would be forgiving…..Now life has killed the dream I dreamed”

If you’re reading this and you’re a business leader, I believe you’re obligated to create a culture that creates a place of meaning, hope, love, dignity and respect for your team members. Ditto if you lead a family. 

What if this year, we gave our staff members and friends and family some gifts that reflect the gifts Jesus offered us when he shattered time and space and entered this fast paced world. The Roman world was just like our world was it not? Sex crazed, war torn, slave workers, religion on trial, pleasure seeking, power grabbing, political in-fighting and more. Into that world, Jesus Christ brought himself and offered HOPE for the weary, PEACE that cannot be taken away, LOVE in spite of our faults and mistakes and an offer of living forever with him. All of these are antidotes to the worlds pain and problems.

All of our advances in knowledge and technology have not erased what Jesus Christ knew we would need in this modern world.  This Christmas, why not try giving away some of your stuffocated life’s possessions, skip buying anything and give the gifts that matter most.