Show Me The Money.

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

content: satisfied, not wanting anything else

never: not ever, at no time, absolutely not

It's Christmas Season in America. This means a couple things. 1. Greedy, 4am, over-spending shoppers 2. Ridiculously over-sized, bejeweled, Grandma sweaters everywhere (no offense Grandma) 3. More and more people forgetting about the real reason of the season and concentrating more on gifts and spending, than on Jesus. (4. Can't forget the Salvation Army Bell Ringers and Red Buckets--yes I've already put my time in ringing at Nordstrom's last weekend!)

Call me Grinchy, or maybe I'm just fed up with repeatedly getting caught up in our Americanized version of Christmas cheer. I hate the feeling that our society is consumed with money and having more of it. The best Christmas' are the ones where you receive contentment from giving, with no expectation of getting, where more money is spent on others than yourself, and even more of that money is given to a good cause (check out http://www.oxfam.org/ for ideas).

96% of Americans celebrate Christmas, which means a major majority of Americans are scrambling to buy presents, fighting the crowds, and waiting in 12-hour lines for the newest gaming system. It doesn't make sense that 96% of Americans "celebrate" Christmas, yet we have to be overly careful to who we spread Christmas cheer too, that God can't be mentioned in schools without lawsuits, and that guns are being used to shoot others in churches on Sundays. To me it doesn't add up. If this so-called 96% of Americans are celebrating Jesus and His birth wouldn't the focus of this season be a more positive one--focusing more on Jesus and the contentment of His love for us, using our wealth and contentment to help others who truly need it?

Enough of my rants and raves, because despite what our culture turns Christmas into, God is still here. He loves us and forgives us despite our Christmas shortcomings and could care less about the present we get our beloved Christmas-sweater wearing Grandma as long as our intentions are pure. He is here through it all...through your online shopping obsession (yes--Americans spend over $26 billion bones online for x-mas), to watching endless reruns of A Christmas Story with you (I can hear God agreeing with "be careful you'll shoot your eye out!" and disagreeing at the purchase of a leg lamp), and you better believe He is enjoying that tall glass of cold milk and gingerbread cookie right beside you (or should I say tall, non-fat, two pump, extra hot, gingerbread latte? :)). Here to love us, forgive us and to never, ever forsake us (despite our spending habits). ANY OF US.