How can I keep from having a "Bah! Humbug!" Christmas? #reachout #openhandsareforgiving

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Galatians 6:10 “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men…”

It had been a tough year financially and in other ways. I wasn’t teaching that year. I was doing a paper route and selling “Discovery Toys” on the side. The toys in my kit weren’t age-appropriate for my kids, but the money I made doing the parties would provide Christmas for them. At least I hoped it would.

My daughter Margie and I were collecting money from my paper route. The man who opened the door at one house was surrounded by three or four little kids, and you could almost feel the poverty in that house. He asked me to wait, then he brought me a check he had received as a Christmas gift already endorsed and made payable to me.

I can’t tell you how much I didn’t want to take that check, but he insisted. I remember his telling me it was important that his kids learn that a man pays his bills. As Margie and I drove away, I knew we needed to help them in a tangible way.

We went home and put every gift from my kit that was age-appropriate for his kids into a box with wrapping paper and even tape. All the kids helped. Then we went back to that house after dark. We were so stealthy in our approach, it’s a wonder someone didn’t see us and call the police. We put the box on their front porch, rang the bell and ran!

When we were back home, we still had the same problems we’d had before we went. We didn’t have any more money than before either, and Christmas was still going to be tight. But our spirits were soaring! Why? Because we stopped looking at our “circumstances,” stepped outside ourselves, and saw that other people were hurting. Then we did something about it.

If you’re haunted by the “ghosts of Christmas past,” you’re not alone. Most of us have wounds from the past because we live in a broken world. The abandonment, the abuse, the broken relationships…all those things hurt more at Christmas, don’t they?

As always, however, we have a choice. We can wallow in bad memories or our present circumstances, focus on what we don’t have, and be suffocated by our own misery. Or we can choose to make some new and better memories by reaching out to someone.

That’s the spirit of our text verse in Galatians where Paul admonishes us to “do good to all men as we have opportunity.” And you can bet the opportunities are there if we’ll just open our eyes and look for them. People are hurting. God cares about that, and so should we.

I’m sure Christmas was tight that year because I remember it was one of the “lean years.” But you know, I don’t remember one gift or one event that year except the one that made a lasting impact on Margie. And neither does she.

Are you having a tough time with Christmas this year like I so often do? Maybe it would help if we found someone who needs help or encouragement, got out of ourselves and meet that need. There’s truth in the words of St. Francis, “…for it is in giving that we receive.” Give anonymously and see if it doesn’t give you back your joy.

Challenge for Today: What might happen if we, just for today, got out of ourselves and reached out to someone in need?