So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content (1 Timothy 6:8).
Long ago, the Beatles sang "money can't buy me love." If you hang out at the mall in December, it's easy to forget that money and buying things isn't what the holiday season is really supposed to be about. Pretty sparkling things and neatly wrapped gifts may purchase a temporary glee, but they sure can't buy you love!
If you stop and think about it, there are lots of things money simply cannot do. It can't buy one more day for someone with a terminal illness. It can't put broken families back together. It can't bring back the people we love who have died. It can't stop bombs or buy world peace. Money, and the things it can buy, is nice, but sometimes we get so wrapped up in having more that we forget to give thanks for having enough.
The best gifts are the priceless memories that you make throughout the year. You know the ones I mean, the ones you freeze inside the picture album of your mind and then take out and re-examine from time to time.
Some of my best "remember when" gifts from 2006 are ...
My granddaughter's first birthday party. Abby wore a red and white sundress and her mother put her hair up in two tiny sprouts on either side of her head. She loved the attention, the ice cream, and the gifts, and we loved loving Abby.
My annual all-girls trip with my high school and college buddies. This year we went to Cool Springs, Tennessee. It takes me a week to recover from a weekend with them, but it sure is fun!
Watching my husband pretend he's a rock star. One of his friends invited him to jam with some guys in his basement and I tagged along. I loved being a "groupie" for my husband, but next time I want to be part of the action. Maybe they'll let me be a backup singer. I'll sing very softly and Bill can turn the sound up on the keyboard. I figure if Mick Jagger and the Stones can still rock and roll, so can I!
So this year when Bill and the kids ask me what I want for Christmas, I really mean it when I say I don't want anything. I already have everything I need and more tucked away in the photo album of my mind.
