The audio from my radio spot for the week:
As my children know, it is finally the most wonderful time of the year- time for presents! As much as we work to help our children embrace the spiritual realities of God becoming flesh, it is hard to work past the cultural expectations of Christmas.
This is especially difficult because we so often use gifts to reward or maybe even bribe our children. They are familiar enough with this concept that I even see them using it with each other. The other day I asked my three year-old daughter, “Sweetie, where did you get a penny?” She told me, “Joshie give it to me.” I asked her why and she said, “He want to marry me. But I still not marrying him. I just marry Danny.”
It is slightly disturbing to hear that my son is offering a dowry to his sister to convince her to marry him instead of her other brother, but it’s more disturbing to me that I can think of God’s gift to me in sending Jesus in the same way. I can imagine that God gives gifts the way I do- in the hope of a return or as a way to manipulate behavior. I can see the act of Christ coming to earth as God’s way of earning my good behavior instead of as a free gift of his goodness. This Christmas I want to emulate God’s generous spirit by giving without expecting a return and teaching my kids to do the same.