We are surrounded by a culture that focuses solely on GETTING. Get perfect grades, get the latest technology, get more likes on Insta. It’s easy to think that getting more will fulfill us and earn us approval from the world. It’s the message we receive all day, every day, especially in this hyper-commercialized season.

 SPOILER ALERT: Getting is not what it’s about. Think back to the Grinch (the old cartoon, NOT the Jim Carrey version, ew): he steals all the Whos’ presents;  yet, they still sing. Christmas came! It came just the same! It wasn’t about the gifts; it was about being together.

What’s REALLY important to you? When it comes down to it, I bet it’s not new Uggs, nor anonymous approval of your tweet. Once we realize that, our lives order themselves rightly, and we turn our focus to GIVING – giving thanks to God for all we do have, giving our love and respect to each other, and giving a hand to those who have less.    ​

We are always giving of ourselves, our time, our lives. We become overwhelmed at times, overwrought and exhausted from all of the ways we give of ourselves–consciously and unconsciously. Christ gave himself wholly, willingly, and intentionally, and his love never ceases, never runs dry.  I find, if I give of myself intentionally, that is, if I input meaning into my daily acts and tasks, and work to find, receive, and experience fulfillment from these small everyday things that can become so mundane, I can, even if only for a moment, glimpse the powerful way that selfless love can affect the world.

I often find myself tired, like really tired, so much so that each day and week seems to blend together until I am not sure what I have accomplished or what my goals were. This happens even more around the holiday season. It is crunch time in work and personal life and giving becomes a chore. In this tiredness I feel emptiness and then realize something is missing. So, I reach for the only way I know how to be renewed–God. I give praise and thanks to God and ask that, through our relationship, I may be filled up again with God’s giving love, to then be able to give that love to others, intentionally.

It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving. ― Mother Teresa

The Holiday season offers us endless opportunities to give, everywhere we go there are people beckoning us to give of our time and treasure.  Bells ring at almost every store entrance to remind us that there are those who need our spare change. Collections of every kind taking place in our schools, workplaces, and places of worship.  Most of us give generously when we are asked because we know it is the right thing to do, but how many of us truly think about how we give?

Do we consciously say a prayer for the child that will receive our donated gift?  Do we wonder how our spare change will truly benefit those who will receive it?  Do we take the time to truly understand and embrace what it means to give?  I know I sometimes don’t, not because I don’t want too, just because I get so caught up in the busyness of the season that I forget to think about what I’m doing and just give in a sort of automatic way.  Then I’m reminded of all those wonderful sayings on giving, it is better to give then to receive, it is in giving that we are filled.  Both of which are true, but not if I’m on automatic mode in my giving.

What if instead of just donating my spare change I volunteer my time at the organization collecting money?  What if instead of just donating my gift, I take time out of my busy life and help sort, wrap, and deliver those gifts?  What if instead of me giving to everything within my reach, I choose one thing that moves me and give of my talents to raise awareness and actually make a difference in someone’s life?

What if, like the quote from Mother Teresa says, I stop and give of myself consciously and with love?  To me that is when we can truly experience what giving is all about.  That is when giving is truly happening…that is when giving becomes a sacred  and saving act…