If you had to choose one character to personify your Christmas experience, who would it be? Clark Griswald, Scrooge, the Grinch, Ralphie, Will Ferrell, Kevin McAllister, Tim Allen, the Kranks...
Is your Christmas experience best summed up by what you get? What you give? How about dodging weird cousin Eddie?
I can see it now. Kids' faces as they open their last gift. Looks of exasperation as if to say, "That's it? That's all it was?" Waiting 364 days for a 2 minute and 49 second moment of frenzy strolling wrapping paper across the room. But the rehearsed lines of 'Merry Christmas' and 'thank you' were completely drowned out by hearts of disappointment.
We all struggle with the frustration of setting high, albeit most likely unmet, expectations that no amount of toys, gadgets, food, or good company can meet.
And the question remains, how do we move from Merry Christmas to a Happy New Year?
Give more.
I'm not making an attempt to calculate or categorize the character of these figures, but consider the this one moment in time as the shepherds and wise men made their way to visit baby Jesus. The star was shone and the journey began. A caravan of individuals bringing gifts of extreme worth, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, clearly not expecting anything in return.
There was no sign of disappointment or exasperation. And it seems there was a sense of happiness and fulfillment provided by their offering and merely sitting around admiring the gift God had brought into the world.
We live in a fast paced world of demands reaching higher and higher for what can be accumulated, accomplished, and approved. Essentially, we live in a world that is teaching us that it is more important to consider what we can receive than what we can give.
But truth be told, our attempts to be satisfied by merely what we possess or have received is a misleading fable told by countless addicts of false happiness. The toys we own, the cars we drive, the houses where we live, the jobs we hold are all secondary to the heart desiring to be happy.
A person set in the direction of happiness must learn to give more, recognizing that what we have is meant to be dispensed in a way that generates a heart of generosity. When our heart looks like an episode of Hoarders we will never feel the freedom and happiness that generosity creates.
Generosity, our willingness to give more, requires discipline. It's not natural. It's not easy. And, at first, it's not always enjoyable. Finding happiness by giving more, thus momentarily having less, seems so counterintuitive. But it's proven to be overwhelmingly rewarding.
Here's three ideas to having a greater awareness for giving more. First, give generously. Don't be stingy with what you have. It's likely that you've been blessed beyond what you deserve so don't be afraid to freely open your hands to give what initially seems unlikely.
Next, give sacrificially. Some of us may understand the phrase "give until it hurts," but most of us have a low tolerance for financial pain. Sacrificial giving becomes a great reminder of the cost required to buy our personal, physical, spiritual freedom and happiness.
Lastly, give joyfully. Begrudging generosity isn't generosity at all. Remember that as you give your heart is being set free from your own kingdom of good works that's collecting moths and rust.
This new year will create a happier version of yourself when you prize others as more important than yourself. And while the importance of others will spur you to let go of what you have for their sake, it's ultimately for your sake. While greed is our attempt to acquire more to be happy, generosity frees our heart to be happy by giving more. So, choose to give more and be happy!
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