Over the weekend, I watched an interview with a man coming out of a Best Buy store. He detailed how he had just purchased several wide screen TVs, a computer, an ebook reader, and several other electronic gadgets. Altogether he had spent more than $3,000 for Christmas gifts in this one spree.
Later, poll results were released on the same news broadcast showing that people were expecting to spend more money this year on Christmas shopping than last year, an average of more than $760 each.
All I could think of was how I was skewing those figures. Since we have not exchanged presents in our families for many years, I do not get into the frenzy of this consumerist hubbub. What a relief it is to not have to fight the crowds, lose sleep by going out in the middle of the night to catch a bargain, and then fight those same crowds to return unwanted or ill-fitting articles.
Yet, I see all around me individuals who are laboring under the pressure to measure up to someone else's expectations through their gift giving. They seem to lack freedom in the search for approval from others through their exchange of material things. For many of them, this season is truly a burden. The debt undertaken weighs them down long into the next year, long after the newness has worn off the proffered bauble.
I don't think that I am a Scrooge. It isn't that I don't want to make others happy, or enjoy receiving from them. It's just that I appreciate the freedom of not being manipulated by the retail and advertising industries. The true spirit of this season is definitely giving. God gave us everything in His Son, Jesus. In anticipation of that Great Gift, I want to enter into the spirit of this Advent season. I desire a true spirit of longing, but not just for things.
May this next month be a time of rest, peace and joy, not hectic guilt, burdensome debt and numbing worry over how to pay the bills.
