And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:15-21 ESV).
Black Friday has past and Cyber Monday has past, the question we all ask is whether we might have “missed out?” I have never been a shopper on either of these days, though I certainly don’t disparage those who do. I do think we ought to be very careful not to get caught up in the retail madness of Christmas. It is hard to avoid when stores announce the countdown of shopping days till Christmas, when ads keep putting gift ideas in our heads, or when the kids give us a sad look and tell us what they really want for Christmas. It’s hard not to think that our worth is measured by an abundance of presents under the tree.
We know better. But we have all fallen under the implied challenge of our friends who innocently ask, “What did you get for Christmas?” of course as we have aged it may have become more subtle, but we are not immune from the comparison game. We might not ask our friends, “What did you get?” but we can’t help noting someone’s remark about a vacation or new bling. Especially in December we need to be on guard “against all kinds of greed.”
I can honestly say that the greatest thing that settles over me are those few Christmases that we have all been together as a family. It has become much more difficult with distance and schedules disrupting our ability to be in one place at the same time. So, those times when we were, have become even more cherished. Of course, there are the memories of opening various gifts. Our practice has been that we draw names as adults, but everybody gives the kids a gift. There is joy seeing them tear into the paper and look into the boxes with smiles and joyous comments. We adults are always a bit more reserved. We open the gifts in turn very carefully. Then holding up the gift for everyone to see we express our heartfelt gratitude, though inwardly we are still shouting with glee. But, that joy fades quickly. We remember that time spent together in conversation. We remember the joy of being truly with those we love. We noticed that the stuff we did together was what stood out, not the stuff we got. In his story about a man who built bigger barns, Jesus reminds us there is more to life than stuff. Having things will never really satisfy but loving one another and loving our great God will!