Not Enough Money
My middle child gave me a Christmas list last month which was mainly derived from the Walmart Christmas gift ad. Over half of the items on his list cost $100 or more. So, we had a little chat. Because while we could spend hundreds of dollars on our kids at Christmas, we won't.
Growing up, I was convinced we were poor. We cut coupons, took our wagon to the grocery store, and wore hand me down clothes. We had old cars, old furniture, and never ever bought anything from a convenience store (because the prices were ridiculously marked up). I thought we couldn't afford anything, and I rarely asked my parents for money. I remember questioning my dad one day if we were poor. He told me we weren't, but that most people who looked rich were swimming in debt. He'd rather have old things and money in the bank than new things and owe others. This was not particularly comforting to a teen, yet logical.
The truth is, this Christmas season many of us are going to feel as if we don't have enough money. Our kids want really expensive things (mostly because they've been told to want them by marketing campaigns). We might feel pressured by those same marketing campaigns to go into debt to make our kids happy and feel loved. Derik said to me the other day when we went out to buy a couple of gifts for the kids, "You know, this is really stressful for a lot of people. I'm so thankful we don't have that pressure." But it isn't the size of our bank account that relieves pressure, it is because we set very reasonable limits and live within a budget. We don't go all out on our kids for Christmas, because money doesn't equal love.
The devil is a sneaky liar. Expensive presents on Christmas morning might bring your children momentary joy, but more than likely it will bring you the exact opposite. The devil wants you to believe that spending what you don't have is a gift of love, but in reality, it is going to bring financial stress on your family and disunity with your spouse. Is it worth it? Is a materialistic morning worth months stress? Proverbs 22:7 reminds us that "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender." Slavery doesn't sound appealing to me. I want to avoid that situation. Oddly, no matter how much money we have or how much we spend, it will never feel like it is enough.
Here's a news flash, rich people are not happier than poor people. And people with more stuff in their house do not live happier lives. At Christmas time, we buy into the lie that more stuff makes us happy. But the truth is, more presents under a Christmas tree does not make life better. In fact, it can make January, February, and March a lot worse.
My 6 year old daughter and I were singing "Nuttin' For Christmas" in Meijer the other day. It goes something like this "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas, Mommy and Daddy are mad, I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas, 'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad." It is a fun and silly song, but she seriously asked me, "Is this song about my older brother?" Haha! Well, I suppose it could be, but no. Then she remarked, "Even if you don't get anything for Christmas, you do get Jesus."
Truer words were never spoken. As the world throws their money at materialism in an effort to buy happiness this Christmas season, have the courage to buck the trend. True happiness, joy, and peace cannot be bought. Debt brings the opposite of all those things. Jesus, the Creator and Savior of the world, offers us so much more - salvation. Your kids will be happy and feel loved long term, not because of what you buy them, but because you show them the love of Christ.
Growing up, I was convinced we were poor. We cut coupons, took our wagon to the grocery store, and wore hand me down clothes. We had old cars, old furniture, and never ever bought anything from a convenience store (because the prices were ridiculously marked up). I thought we couldn't afford anything, and I rarely asked my parents for money. I remember questioning my dad one day if we were poor. He told me we weren't, but that most people who looked rich were swimming in debt. He'd rather have old things and money in the bank than new things and owe others. This was not particularly comforting to a teen, yet logical.
The truth is, this Christmas season many of us are going to feel as if we don't have enough money. Our kids want really expensive things (mostly because they've been told to want them by marketing campaigns). We might feel pressured by those same marketing campaigns to go into debt to make our kids happy and feel loved. Derik said to me the other day when we went out to buy a couple of gifts for the kids, "You know, this is really stressful for a lot of people. I'm so thankful we don't have that pressure." But it isn't the size of our bank account that relieves pressure, it is because we set very reasonable limits and live within a budget. We don't go all out on our kids for Christmas, because money doesn't equal love.
Here's a news flash, rich people are not happier than poor people. And people with more stuff in their house do not live happier lives. At Christmas time, we buy into the lie that more stuff makes us happy. But the truth is, more presents under a Christmas tree does not make life better. In fact, it can make January, February, and March a lot worse.
My 6 year old daughter and I were singing "Nuttin' For Christmas" in Meijer the other day. It goes something like this "I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas, Mommy and Daddy are mad, I'm getting nuttin' for Christmas, 'Cause I ain't been nuttin' but bad." It is a fun and silly song, but she seriously asked me, "Is this song about my older brother?" Haha! Well, I suppose it could be, but no. Then she remarked, "Even if you don't get anything for Christmas, you do get Jesus."
Truer words were never spoken. As the world throws their money at materialism in an effort to buy happiness this Christmas season, have the courage to buck the trend. True happiness, joy, and peace cannot be bought. Debt brings the opposite of all those things. Jesus, the Creator and Savior of the world, offers us so much more - salvation. Your kids will be happy and feel loved long term, not because of what you buy them, but because you show them the love of Christ.
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