By E.J. Smith

Merry Christmas Elizabethton! 

My hope today is that everyone who celebrates Christmas knows the real reason for this “holiday.” I am not going to preach; I am not qualified for that. I just want people to know that Christmas is for celebrating the birth of God’s greatest gift to the world, his one and only begotten son, Jesus.

It seems that now days, Christmas is a competition of who can buy the most expensive gifts for their children and other loved (and not so loved) ones. Show the world that you have lots of money, even if you have to go into debt to “prove” such a claim.

Blame it on advertising, some say. Well, this is partly true. Ads promise outlandish outcomes of their products to entice us to purchase them, do they not? This is an excerpt from a movie, Crazy People, 1990. I will not watch it again because of the language, but the following quote from it says it all about drawing customers to spend a lot of money with the companies. The man who is talking about how to get business says, “You can’t always just hit a target and run. You’ve got to drill, drill, drill. The target audience has got to consume your product, not because they love it, but because they can’t escape it.”  The other ad man who is growing tired of giving products more credit than they deserve, says, “ You and I lie for a living. Let’s not lie, Steve.”

Are we “targets?” Are we going to buy every bigger and better item they attempt to sell? Items that are brightly colored, packaged, and deemed so necessary that we do not wish to live without them? Sadly, most of us do just that! Are we sheep, following these claims without questioning the truth of them? No, we are individuals who have the capacity to resist such temptations and do the right thing in our lives. Most of us know that it is  wrong to spend money we cannot afford to spend just to prove such a useless point.

Is there a solution to this? Probably not, but here are some suggestions: 1. Buy your children one gift you can afford. 2. Take off your list all the people you really do not feel that obligated to buy for except to impress them. 3. Tell your friends and family that you want them to take the money they are planning to spend on you and use it for someone who has little or nothing for their children and loved ones. 4. Purchase or cook a meal for a needy family. 5. Give donations in the names of your children or other family members to organizations that help poor people. 6. Find a place that is feeding people on the holiday and volunteer. 7. Pick an angel off an angel tree and fulfill a child’s dream.

The last and most important thing you can do: Teach your children the real meaning of Christmas. Talk to others about Jesus and why God sent his most beloved son to such an undeserving world. After all, this is the very thing we, as Christians, are expected by God to do: spread the word about Jesus so that everyone in the world can hear it and have a chance for everlasting life with Him.

If your beliefs are different, go ahead and do what it is you do to celebrate, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Joshua 24:15

You are in my prayers,

E.J.