The Spirit of Giving
Blog
We love the age old stories of Santa Claus. They’re grand, elaborate, and magical. They instill hope and encourage kindness. The tales may be tall, but the tone is tremendous.
It’s the spirit of giving.
Every story of St. Nick has one thing in common. His generosity. Not only his generosity, but his incessant caretaking attitude despite his circumstances. It’s one thing to give because the time of year is cheerful, but this guy gave and then went to jail. There’s even suspicion that he had a broken nose toward the end of his life from one of these visits.
To have a “spirit” of something means much more than random acts. It means consistency. A general disposition, regardless of the situation.
That’s what we have to learn from St. Nick.
His spirit inspires love and cheer. After all Christmas is the best time of year! So the question becomes, how do we nurture that spirit? How do we keep it alive when the lights come down and the hats come off? How did St. Nick do it?
The answers to these questions are no easy find. Some of us suffer from the temporary-ness that is the Christmas giving spirit. Perhaps the way to keep the spirit of Christmas alive is to remember the joy of Father Christmas all year long.
Call it inspiration. Call it redundancy. But I think we can make Christmas stretch if we approach the new year in this light. Most of us never want Christmas to end.
Who says it has to?
The spirit of giving can live on without the decorations. St. Nick didn’t wait till December to instill value into the lives of young sisters destined to be old maids or bestow anonymous blessings amongst his village. He saw the pain and the need and he stepped in.
The stories are magical, and the spirit is real. You feel it every winter. We challenge you to culitvate it. All year long.
Even if you have to wear a red sock hat to remember.
Merry Christmas.
Forever.