The Generosity Experiment

I found this article yesterday, called The Generosity Experiment. It totally resonated with me, because now that my tree is up and my house is decorated, I don't want this Christmas season just to be about shopping for gifts, making cookies and crafts, and going to holiday parties. I want it to be a season that glorifies Christ. Since its His birthday, shouldn't we all be asking ourselves what He wants?

That's why I like this challenge, because I think that Christ would want us to show our love for Him by loving and giving to others. And not just in a give gifts to your close friends and family way, but it in a share the love of Christ and give to complete strangers kind of way. So I think I will join the generosity experiment and ask God every day to show me ways I can be generous towards others so that it might remind me and show others who this holiday is really about.

I think we're in a neat stage in life where we begin to transition out of the traditions of our parents, where Christmas was all about us, and transition into making traditions of our own and thinking about what we want to make Christmas about for our kids. This is a conversation that Derek and I have begun to have, and will continue to have, and my desire is that we would celebrate Christmas in a way that in the future, our kids would know that Christmas is about Jesus and its about taking care of and loving others. (P.S. In saying this I am not saying that I did not grow up this way - in fact today I got a text message from my mom asking where good places are to get gift certificates for high school and middle school aged kids of homeless families. Growing up my parents did a great job of showing us the true meaning of Chirstmas.)

Here is another sire for you. It is called Christmas Change and it is basically a place to share ideas about how to celebrate Christmas with incarnational living. I am loving reading through it and finding some great ideas about how to keep this season about Jesus. I'm so excited for Christmas this year! Don't get me wrong, I am definitely excited about the decorations and wrapping gifts and making cookies, but I am more excited about celebrating Jesus' birth and keeping my focus on the things that are important to Him.