Many have seen this photo recently, I'm sure. It is circulating on Facebook, and all over the Internet. I myself saw it posted on a friend's Facebook page today, and it definitely gave me cause to think. I paused several times today as I repeatedly saw it appearing on various friends' pages. I stopped to think, to assess, to pray, to deal with my heart's conviction.
This afternoon, Sylvia saw the image as she looked over my shoulder at the computer screen, and she asked about it. Her heart was also given pause to reflect, and we had a wonderful discussion.
Caeden and I have been battling it out lately, dealing with his selfishness in regards to having THINGS. He wants, wants, wants...every cool toy he sees advertised, begs and whines, and talks constantly about the things he wishes he had. It has been difficult for me to get through to him how much he already has.
Last week, I wrote the following in an email to my brother about the situation...
We had a major tear-filled blow-up at breakfast this morning. Caeden argues with EVERYthing I ask/tell him to do and wants to do the exact opposite, no matter what it is. He begs constantly, refuses to do simple tasks, and mostly thinks about himself and what he can get. He was pouting about my not letting him have breakfast at school today and having to have cereal at home instead, and knocked over a full cup of juice into Annah's gym shoes, and all over the table, chair, and floor. I lost it. I didn't care about the juice, but the fact that he dumped it because he was being so selfish. I made him clean it up while I launched into a tirade about how whiny, argumentative, and selfish he is. All 4 of us [me and the kids] were in tears at some point, but it ended up well...
I pointed out how we have so much more than we need...We are never hungry, in fact, we indulge too often. We have warm clothes and blankets and a comfortable home. We have toys and games and books and gadgets. And we don't even need so much of what we have! We have Jesus, and the promise of living in heaven where everything is perfect forever! We need to share and give more. Their perspectives changed quickly then!
I pointed out to Caeden that Santa doesn't buy the gifts; I do. He knew, but was deciding to deny it, and was putting too much hope in Santa. I decided he was old enough to deal with the truth, especially with the way he was acting. We all had a good change in perspective, and prayed together right then that Jesus would help us remember Him and remember to be generous and giving through the Christmas season and always. Whew, it was intense!
Then, this evening, Sylvia asked me to show the above photo to everyone else in the family. As Caeden looked at it, and I explained what he was looking at, he burst into heart-wrenching tears. We could literally see the shame and sympathy in his eyes and in his heart. He felt so guilty, he could barely utter out the words he knew he needed to say, "I've been so selfish."
All five of us were together in the living room at this time. All this led to some very difficult, but wonderful family discussion about how blessed we are to have every one of our needs met and so much more, and how God calls us to GIVE of what we are blessed with.
Somehow, in the midst of this discussion, it came around again that we buy the Christmas gifts, not Santa. We then discovered that Caeden hadn't "gotten it" about Santa the other day when I told him that we buy the gifts, not Santa. As he asked us if Santa was real or not, we could not lie to him. He told us he felt like we tricked him! (All of us were in tears then! Although, Caeden did admit that he would rather have had the years of enjoying the fun of Santa than not.) So there was very tough talk about Santa and where the idea of St. Nicholas came from, how he was working to GIVE in the name of Jesus, and now others carry on that very wonderful tradition.
Oh, it was difficult discussion, but so good. To talk as a family about how God has blessed us and provided for us, and how we are to do that for others...that was very good. We continue to try to keep our eyes and ears and hearts open to ways God wants to use us to give to others and to be His hands and feet to the world.
The kids have recently studied Matthew 6 for Bible Quizzing, and it was beautiful to see them fully understand what this means...
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
- Matthew 6:1-4
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ - Matthew 25:37-40
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