The weather is in the low 20s at night.  Seasonal decorations have been in the stores since before Halloween.  Hobby Lobby has had their bows and ornaments and fake trees on sale 60% off for weeks!  We have most of our Christmas presents purchased, and will have most of them wrapped by the end of the week.  Over six feet of snow fell in a northern US city already (see it here).  And there are colorful lights on houses all over the place.  Is it me, or has Christmas come early?

Seriously, it’s only November 30, and everything seems to be telling us it’s closer to December 25th.  We have just barely finished recovering from Thanksgiving!  It’s an important holiday to me and many others. It’s a reminder to be thankful!  I know we’ve turned it into some sort of food-fest (kinda like all the other “holidays” we celebrate), but it seems to me that when I remember to be thankful, I more fully appreciate the things for which I’m thankful.  I also remember that for many of the good things in my life, there’s really only One Person to thank – God.  It’s kind of a “points to God” kind of time that many other holidays are not.  We’ve turned most of the rest into something else.

I wonder if that’s the reason we’re in such a rush to Christmas and New Year – we have “done our duty” by saying thank-you, first.  It also may be that many folks having difficult times, and have less for which they’re thankful.  So, they dash past Thanksgiving to the season when we can feel justified in indulging in “retail therapy” with a little less guilt.  Too bad it’s not the same with our debt, but I digress.

Last year, I posted about why it is good that Thanksgiving comes first.  (Read it here.)  It sets the stage for generosity at Christmastime.  It also has a role in finishing the year remembering with gratitude what God has brought us through this year, no matter how good or bad it has been.

So, now that we’re in the right mood, let’s really lean into Christmas!  Not the self-indulgent part of Christmas as we celebrate it nowadays, but the time for generosity of spirit!  It is because God has been generous with us that we can be generous with others.  Paul talks about this in his second letter to the Corinthians.

“As it is written: “He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”  Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor. 9:9-11)  I encourage you to read the entire story here.

The idea is that we can give to others who are not so well-off so that God may receive more thanksgiving!  We (I hope) are already thankful.  So, we generate more thanksgiving by being generous because we have given thanks to God for his generosity.  It’s kind of a blessing chain that binds us together and encourages us to give thanks to God together.  Unity comes from such as this!

So, even though “Giving Tuesday” was yesterday, maybe it’s time to continue to be generous today, so we can see God glorified through multiplied thanksgiving.  I’m already committed to giving to someone I don’t even know to see how it all works out.

Let’s get more thanksgiving going by how we celebrate Christmas!