An Advent Tradition: Presents for Christ

My awesome chain of wimpy deeds.
My awesome chain of wimpy deeds.

So last year for Advent, I read about a neat idea to help the family focus more on Jesus during the Christmas season.  Each person in your family gets a strip of paper and each day you write down a good deed you did for your fellow man.  At the end of the day, the family comes together and reads their strips and then links them into a chain.  On Christmas morning, you place the mass of links under the tree as your presents to Jesus.  So, right after Thanksgiving, we started and diligently did it every night.

I had no idea my kids would take to it like they did.  They were super gung-ho.  I also had no idea how pathetically lame I am at giving of my time, talent, and treasure to others.  Before starting, I would have looked you square in the eye and told you that I was a solid Christian.  Here’s how my line of thinking went.

“Jesus is gonna be so impressed with what I write down.”

“I’ll be a great, shining example to my kids.”

(Patting myself on the back) “This will only reinforce what a stellar Christian I am.”

Puke.  If you’ve read any of my other blogs you know that I constantly struggle with pride.

I quickly discovered through this exercise that I barely eek out a somewhat noticeable Christian existence.  Each night when we came together, I had to rack, RACK my brain to come up with something, ANYTHING that qualified as being a good deed for others.  My answers bordered along these lines:

I patted my daughter on the back.

I said, “Hi” to the store clerk.

I made food for my kids.

I smiled instead of frowned.

I drove my kids to places they needed to go.

I said, “Hi,” to a stranger who didn’t even hear me.

I said, “Atta boy” to nobody in particular.

I gave a thumbs up to a car as it passed by.

My husband and I sat on the couch, pens poised, and nothing.  We struggled to come up with a single thing that we did good outside of the bounds of the normal everyday stuff we have to do.  It was so embarrassing to read my “good deeds” out loud each night.  When my daughter read it off, all I heard was my voice yelling through my mind saying, “WHOOPIDY-DO-DAH!  THAT’S ALL YOU GOT?!  YOU PATTED YOUR DAUGHTER’S HAND?  YOU SMILED?  WELL, GEEZ, LET’S ROLE OUT THE CARPET AND HAND YOU THE HUMANITARIAN OF THE YEAR AWARD!”

I felt about an inch tall when we were done.  I wanted to slink under the couch and hide.  One night, Dustin and I started laughing about all the piddly things we had written down.  They were so lame that we just had to laugh at ourselves.

Honestly, this was a very eye-opening experience.  For one, I am not the hot-shot Christian I thought I was.  For two, I’d say there is some room for improvement.  For three, I take care of me, myself, and I waaaayyy too much.  For four, I was served a thick slice of humble pie.  Clearly, I have a thick head, because it seems I have trouble learning this lesson.

During this last Advent, our family went to confession.  During that time, I spoke to the priest about my struggles with pride.  He said, “Well, you need to find a way to humble yourself, because in one way or another you will be humbled.  You have three choices:  To be humbled by someone else, to humble yourself or…” and with a pause and a sly smile he said, “…be humbled by God.”  Very true.  I had been praying for help with my pride:  Enter our Advent chain.  I think God placed this idea on my heart so that I can see for myself the ways that I can improve.  I need to do better about serving my fellow man with more than just a wave and smile.  I need to open my eyes up more to see those around me and seek to serve them in a more meaningful way than a “hey, how’s it going” remark.  As always, when I ask God for something, He delivers.  Just not in the way I expect.  This examination of conscience was very humbling and that is what I asked for.  When asking for help with my pride, in essence, I’m asking to be humbled.  Yet, at the same time, it was very rewarding, because I felt a real spirit of Christmas flow through our family.

That year, my last slip of paper read:  I realize that I can do better being an example of Christ’s love to others.  That realization may be the best gift I can give Jesus this season.

Merry Christmas to you all!  I pray you all have a beautiful Christmas with your family and friends.

 

 

 

 

 

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