The Story of Christmas/Stuff

a couple months ago, i stumbled across the story of stuff while browsing my friend dane's blog. and then yesterday morning, i was hit again pretty hard.

do you ever get excited about something? convicted about something? maybe something you feel you need to change... but, it doesn't make it past that feeling stage? well, yesterday was a bit different. yesterday moved past that feeling for me.

you see, i was faced with a couple of staggering stats in regard to our consumeristic identity, like: the usa spends about $450 billion per year on christmas, and the usa has consumed more goods & resources since 1950 then the entire world has consumed from adam & eve up until 1950, and it would only take $10 billion to make sure every person in the world has access to clean drinking water. but the stats weren't convicting enough. what was convicting was that i realized i was part of the problem.

the story of christmas, the spirit of the season, is not about stuff. yet, i make it about stuff. i feel good when i give & receive. i feel bad when i don't. but again, that's not what its about. so, carlie & i have decided to change.

this year we are focusing on single-gift giving. instead of the usual barrage of meaningless gifts that end up in some landfill by the following christmas, we are looking at giving gifts to our family that will help bring the family together. and since we are limiting the number of gifts, we are forced to be more intentional in our purchasing and giving.

with this kind of giving, even in a down economy, that leaves some unspent money on the table. and carlie & i have decided to give away three times the amount we have spent on gifts, to organizations that are solving real problems: thirst, aids relief, and education. please don't hear me wrong... i don't say this to give a righteous impression. in fact, our giving, dollar wise, won't really be that large. but, we are committed to share what we are doing, because...

...what if a couple other people changed their perspective on christmas, before the rush of the season is over, and actually acted on it? maybe, just maybe, we could learn a little more about that cliche "true meaning of christmas" and at the same time, make our world a better place.

win.win.