twenty dollars

    You know how people say some of the wisest words come from the smallest of children? I see that first hand everyday having 5 younger siblings in my home. There is something special about a pure, little, innocent child. I don't think anyone can deny that. But I also don't think it is fair to say that all older people have lost this purity and innocence. There are many good people in this world. It's just that, in all the hustle and bustle of life... 

    I think we sometimes forget what really matters. 

    I work at a retail store. Kohls Department Store. Expect Great Things. Have you heard of it? I don't think it is a secret that during the holidays retail gets hit hard with many busy shoppers, trying to find various gifts for loved ones and friends. I've spend most of my holiday so far in that store watching people open shoe boxes, try on shirts, pick out ornaments, stand in lines, and repeat. When all is said and done I have found some people can be very cranky and selfish. I've seen people snatch the last iHome that someone else was reaching for... I've seen my fellow employee's get yelled because they couldn't locate any more waffle makers in the back room... I've seen little children dragged by an angry mother to a store at 7am in there pajamas with sleepy eyes because some "early bird" sale on a pair of snow boots mattered more than a little resting head. 

    I have heard many conversations too. 

    A mother to a five year old boy, talking about the picture he drew to his older brother, standing by the towels: "Shut up Dallin, or else you will be grounded when you get home! Sometimes I can't stand you boys. We are not here for you. You are an embarrassment! QUIET."

    To an older lady standing in the line waiting to get checked out, "Can you move already? People like you are the reason this line is moving so slow.... *ugh!*."

    To a overwhelmed, run-down mother trying to get good deals on clothes for her many small children, "Mom I don't want those cheap clothes, why can't I ever get anything nice!?" 

    All the conversations I hear have a central theme: selfishness. People want what they want and they want it now. 

    Now, these are not bad people. I know that. They are stressed people, they are busy people, they are people who are spending more money than they probably should, and they are people who say things they don't mean to people they love.  

    But, one thing holds true above all others.

    They are all people who have forgotten what Christmas is all about. 

    After an especially hard day I work, I too was feeling a little bit selfish. I was hungry, tired, and wanted to go home and do what I wanted to do because I had "spent my whole day helping people and I was done". But as often happens, life doesn't always give us what we want. My mom mom picked me up and I found myself shipped off to do Christmas errands with her, to get even more hungry and tired than I was before. 

    I was sitting in the passengers seat hating life as I listened to my mom talk to my dad on the phone about bringing my siblings out to help them pick out presents for the members in my family; a conversation that happens every year. But then she started talking about my little sister. Sweet little Rebekah, the little girl I waited 11 years to meet. She told my dad how my little sister has been asking for someone to bring her Christmas shopping for quite some time now, she said how Bek had been saving the $20.00 she had received from my grandparents back in May for her birthday so she could buy us all Christmas presents. 

    My heart dropped. 

    Here I was angry that I was making hardly even $8.00 an hour, stressing about how I was going to pay for school, and gas, and still save money on top of that, yeah I had bought my family Christmas presents but I spent as little as I could.... while meanwhile my little sister had spent the last 7 months saving every last cent she owned so she could give it all up so that we could have a reason to smile on Christmas morning. 

    I don't know about you but there is no doubt in my mind that at 8 years old my little sister knows more about the true meaning of Christmas than the majority of adults I know.

    Christmas is about selfless giving. 

    During Christmas time we celebrate the birth of the one who gave us his very life so that we can live again. On Christmas we celebrate the greatest gift the world has ever received: Jesus Christ. On Christmas we give gifts to remind us of this gift God gave us: the gift of his only begotten Son. It is that type of selfless giving we are supposed to have during Christmas. And it is in the hearts of people like my little sister that the true meaning of Christmas is found. 

    We are not asked to sacrifice our lives as a gift on Christmas, but we are asked to sacrifice. My little sister sacrificed by being willing to save and spend all the money she had for the ones she loved. I can sacrifice by forgetting about myself and thinking about others. We all have different ways to sacrifice, but if we all give up a little something this Christmas we can help remind the world what Christmas is really about. 

    Thank you Rebekah for being the pure, little, innocent girl you are and reminding me what really matters.