The Reason for the Season

It is Christmas time again, the time for Peace on Earth, Joy, and Love for all Mankind. And Road Rage. And Debt. And fighting over that special item that there is only 1 of in the county and, Danggit, your kid is going to have it!

Why is it that all you have to do is mention Christmas shopping, and all common sense completely disappears? People will spend hours in a mall wearing out a credit card buying expensive gifts for people they barely know, but they will not spare a dollar's worth of change for the bell ringers by the door?

We hear, "Remember the Reason for the Season" and hear Christmas carols praising God and announcing the Birth of Christ, and we might even sing along with them, but the words are just words to us. We are too caught up in the search for the perfect gift or some other such garbage. Do we really think Jesus cares whether or not your Mother-in-Law gets a cashmere sweater for His birthday?

Most of the time, the thing most people would prefer to get would be the money you spent on the gift they don't want or need. All of us, and I do mean every single person, have more crap laying around the house than we care to admit. And I would be willing to guess that if you opened up that back closet that you only use for storage, you would find several items that were given to you at Christmas. We spend hundreds of dollars every year swapping crap.

Instead of buying hundreds of dollars worth of future yard sale fodder in Jesus's Name, why not take the money you would have spent and donate it to cancer research? Instead of buying 2 games for your child's new gaming system, only buy 1 and give the other $50 to a community charity. Or buy $50 worth of food for the food bank. Or buy blankets for the homeless shelter.

Or...spend the time you would have spent Christmas shopping and volunteer!

If we are truly celebrating the Birth of Christ and all He teaches us, do what he wants us to do! Give to those less fortunate. Help those in need. Give joyfully of ourselves. Spend time with friends and family. Celebrate God's love for us and be joyful!

It isn't about who gets the biggest present or who spends the most money. And it most certainly isn't about the corporate profits.

Christmas is about loving and giving. Joyfully and without hesitation.

Community Gardens: Good or Bad?

I read an article this morning that got me to thinking about community gardens. While I can see it working in some situations, I think that the population as a whole is simply too greedy for it to work in every community. Everyone wants that first ripe tomato, but who is going to get it? The first one to spot it, even if that person didn't actually plant it or care for the plant. Even if it is a co-op garden and everyone works for the common good and gets an equal share, there will be those who will feel that they should get more tomatoes because they don't like the zucchini and eggplant. It is a difficult situation with no real solution.

Our society has existed too long with the entitlement mindset. We think that everything should be given to us without having to work for it. We, as a nation, simply do not want to work for, or toward, anything useful. We have demonized the concept of getting dirty. If that were not true, there would be a lot more people with back yard gardens and we wouldn't need food banks anymore. We would all be eating healthier and diseases like diabetes would not be such an issue anymore.

Now, with all of that being said, there are still things that can be done to help others. If you have a garden, share your extra food with those in need. There are lots of things you can grow in a small space that will produce more than the normal family can eat during the season. Like squash, tomatoes, melons, and beans. This is especially true for those who do not can or preserve their crop. Just how many cantaloupes can you and your family eat in a week? So give the extras to your local homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Getting tired of beans before the plants stop producing? Donate them. Or sell them at the local farmer's market.

There was an online program I found a couple of years ago called "Plant a row for the hungry" that gave out free packets of seeds for anyone agreeing to donate the proceeds from that seed packet to a food bank or homeless shelter. I thought that was an exceptionally good idea. I got a packet of carrot seeds, which probably actually cost less than the postage to mail it to me, but produced about 5 pounds of carrots. I gave them to the teen shelter and they were grateful.

There are just so many options for the extra food you produce. Even things like eggs from your backyard flock. I know that we could not possibly eat enough eggs every week to keep up with the production from even 4 or 5 hens. We just don't eat enough eggs. I use about 7 eggs a week. What would I do with the extras? And if I were raising chickens for meat, I would need a lot more than 4 or 5 chickens. That is a bunch of potential eggs. I could sell them, or give them to friends and neighbors, or I could donate them.

But would I want to raise them in a community coop where anyone could decide that they needed all of them that day and leave none for anyone else? I am thinking probably not. As a society, we just haven't been taught to share on such a scale anymore. Neighbors don't pitch in and help build a barn or give food and clothing to victims of house fires. We don't trust one another any more. And we have hardened ourselves against caring for anyone but ourselves.

I don't like it, but it is the truth. And unless we can change it, we will probably lose all sense of community and be a nation of individuals instead of the United States of America.