SAVE
I can’t remember the last time I set foot in a Menards, but the jingle still flew unbidden into my head just now: Save big money at Menards!
Marketing affects us!
I know that’s not some sort of newsflash. We know this. But it still surprises me how susceptible I am to the pressure to buy more, more, more. This is how we create a magical Christmas for our loved ones, right? Get the perfect gifts, make the perfect meal, stress ourselves out running from store to store?
I ran into another mom the other day. She had something of a glazed look on her face. I’m sure I did too. We were both looking for gifts for our boys. I was trying to consult a size chart online because I couldn’t tell what size pants I should be buying. She was confirming the store had what she needed just in case the online purchases didn’t arrive in time.
I had the fleeting thought that she and I should walk out of that store and sit down together to actually talk over a cup of coffee. Leave the Christmas lists behind.
Instead, we visited briefly and kept trudging along.
Why? Why do we do this to ourselves?
Excuse me while I finish out today’s devotion by writing a little letter to myself. Feel free to let it be a letter to you too; just put your name in the blank:
Dear ________,
Perhaps the greatest gift we can give one another is the gift of our presence. And that doesn’t require any shopping at all.
In Jesus, God has given this world the gift of God’s presence–love and light and healing hope EMBODIED, a love that invites us to sit down to rest…and maybe even catch up over a cup of coffee.
God’s presence invites us to sing–not the Menards jingle, but the song of the psalmist:
The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of the anointed. O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their shepherd, and carry them for ever (Psalm 28:8-9).
God is your strength, weary one. God is your refuge, restless one. God is your shepherd, you who give so much of yourself to shepherd and carry others.
Christmas is coming and I know there’s much to be done. I’m not meaning to minimize all that falls on your shoulders. I know you do what you do out of love.
Still, you can rest, beloved one. You can breathe in God’s presence. You can put down all that you carry and let God carry you.
Christmas coming does not depend on you.
The Christ has already been born for us. He came to save the world. He came to save you.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16-17).
Amen.