CHRISTMAS IS NOT ABOUT GIFTS...IT'S ALL ABOUT CHRIST!

CHRISTMAS IS NOT ABOUT GIFTS…IT’S ALL ABOUT CHRIST!

Since we are increasingly experiencing a COMMERCIALIZED CHRISTMAS in America, I thought it would be wise to reprint an article I read by Miles Patrick Yohnke.  Here it goes:

Recently, as I was cycling to my destination I passed a park along the way.  As I went by, I heard a male voice.  An old man was training his young dog.  With a clear, strong, yet tender voice, he taught his dog to sit and the dog did just as he was commanded.  With his leash on, they walked a few steps and repeated the process.  He praised his dog and I could see that the dog was very happy.

The man was teaching the dog that it could be more.  He taught the dog focus, discipline, and structure.  What really struck me was that this took time.  AND HE TOOK THE TIME.

As I continued along my journey I reflected on what I had witnessed, thinking how that man in the park took quality time.  He was there.  He was getting the most out of his dog.  How fortunate that dog really was.

How often do we take the time to teach our own children?  We constantly hear echoes of, “I’m so busy, I feel like I’m running on a treadmill, I’m so stressed!”

Our modern world is inundated with marketing and advertising that has one goal, and one goal only.  That is to make products so attractive that the consumer feels an obsession to possess them in order to feel special, fulfilled or popular.  Children and teens need to understand the powerful attraction that marketing can create.  They must learn to differentiate between what one truly needs and what one only wants.

And we must teach the children well.  We need to teach them that advertising exists so that individuals or big corporations can make money.  Because of that, advertisers use powerful methods to convince consumers to buy products.  We must teach our children how media corporations need paid advertising to stay on the air or to continue publishing.  We need to show them how advertising convinces people to want something, even if they don’t really need it.  We must discuss this because our families are confronted by powerful and attractive advertising, whether on television, radio, newspapers, magazines, or billboards.

We should discuss how advertising tries to make you feel better about yourself if you own a certain product or convince you that other people will like you better or think you’re “cool.”

We should explain that shopping should seldom be seen as a fun pastime, but rather something people should do to buy items that they truly need. 

Help your children observe how many times a day your family is exposed to advertising.  For example, there are ads on the sides of buses, in arenas, on radio and television, on billboards, etc.  Teach them to understand when a television or radio station tells you to tweet them or post to their Facebook site, that they are only doing so to create traffic hits to their own website that will increase their revenue.  Show our youth that advertising tries to create an image of what a person should (or should not) look like, even though this image quite often does not reflect reality.

Here is the alarming thing: Do parents really know the difference between needs and wants?  And, if so, do we love enough to speak truth to our children (and to ourselves) even when it is uncomfortable or unpopular.  Parents and grandparents, we must refuse to retreat to that old mindset of “I’m busy, I’m running, I’m stressed.”  And we need to forge genuine connections with our offspring, our real life legacy.

These days, most married couples both work full-time.  Perhaps, as an indirect result, divorce rates have soared to all-time highs and tag-team parenting has become the order of the day.  Parents feel overwhelmed.  And, frankly, much of this is centered on how to pay their rent or mortgage, or for the miscellaneous stuff in their homes, or for their vehicles, their clothes, their vacations, their holidays, and on and on.  For the most part, we no longer understand the core values of life or the real meaning of life.

Ask yourself this question today: Do I actually need to keep up with the Joneses?  Or am I acting as a child and merely wearing an adult face?

WOW…thank you Miles Patrick Yohnke!  You have given us something to think and pray about.  Don’t get me wrong, sisters and brothers, I love Christmas just as much as anyone, and I, too, am thrilled with the opportunity to purchase and distribute gifts.  But as we celebrate this Advent Season, let us make a solemn pledge in 2016, and let’s stay true to it:  WE WILL KEEP CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS!

Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING.  Maranatha!