If you’re at all like me, I struggle every Advent and Christmas with the focus on getting more and more stuff. Black Friday has become a cultic ritual of greed and rudeness in our land. As though that is not enough, we have now intruded upon the Thanksgiving holiday as a time to rest from our work and ponder the goodness of God. Instead, we have turned the holiday into another frenetic folly-day. No rest for the wicked takes on a whole new meaning for me.

Advent is more about the coming of sales and bargains than preparing for the coming of our Lord we supposedly celebrate on the Holy Day of Christmas. The spirit of giving, as a way of blessing another, has given way to a greed-filled spirit of getting—what I want for Christmas.

In the midst of all these distractions from the meaning of Christmas, I found a refreshing perspective from one of our readers in South Africa. Chris wrote me this week about something he did last Christmas that has paid forward to bless not only his grandchildren but also many others. I delighted to be able to share his giving idea with you—and idea worth spreading.

I once told you about last year’s Christmas gifts to my grandchildren. I gave my grandchildren money with the request that they use 70% for themselves to make them happy and use 30% for someone in need to make them happy.
The idea was welcomed by parents and children alike.

Wonderful things happened. One gave her money for an organization that supports abused women and children. Another bought tinned (that’s canned in our vernacular) food and gave it to beggars that knocked at their door. Quite a few gave contributions to orphanages.

One mother wrote, “Our former housekeeper often brought her little girl named Precious, along for the day. The children grew fond of her. Just before Christmas we heard that they were robbed and their clothes were stolen. The children used their portion of Grandpa’s gift to buy Precious two beautiful long-sleeved shirts. The mother and Precious were very grateful.”

As grandparents, instead of fostering the “me, me” and “I want, I want” mentality at Christmas (something we grandparents are often guilty of doing), why not take Chris’ idea and start some small transformations in the way we think about Christmas giving this year?

Here are two challenges I want to put to you:

1. Take Chris’ idea and use it with your grandchildren (and adult children). Then, send me your stories later about how that impacted them, and others.
2. Share with me what you are doing to make Christmas more honoring to our Lord for your grandchildren.