Gift Exchanges
Dec 20, 2021
I read that the 2nd busiest shopping day of the year is December 26th -- the day after Christmas -- not only for the sales but for the number of people who are returning or exchanging gifts they received that they didn't really want or need.
We don't think about exchanges all that much through the rest of the year. The truth is that we are constantly in a state of exchange. We trade the gifts we've been given and often think little of the value of what we get in return.
I've been convicted of my trades lately. Here are the ones I've been most careless about...
- Time. How easy it is to trade a piece of my life -- really the only commodity that never renews! -- for meaningless things like scrolling on social media or "window shopping" on Amazon or Ebay. I was proud of myself this week for saying no to a new TV show (the hyped prequel to the Kevin Costner series that's super hot right now). Did I want to trade an hour of time for that? Instead I spent time thinking. A much more valuable use of time. One of my mentors is known for saying, "Time spent on one thing is time spent away from something else." I wanna be sure the trade is worth it!
- Health. Convenience and poor planning often result in fast food, either purchased or thrown together at home, and very little consideration for how that food is fueling or failing my body. I listened to Corinne Crabtree (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/losing-100-pounds-with-corinne/id1233384453?i=1000522621057) talk about planning and stopping when I'm full. Common Sense!!
- Money . If I had a nickel for every dollar I wasted over the years (see above for fast food and useless time fillers! lol), I'd probably be set for life. I quipped one time to my husband, "It's only money; you'll make more." He was NOT amused. Truth is we exchange our non-renewable resource--TIME-- for every dollar we earn. Being a good steward with it is wisdom.
What are you exchanging today? Jesus told the story of a man who found a great treasure in a field. He sold everything he owned to purchase the field...what was in it was more valuable than anything he had accumulated to that point.
We have treasures that we already own. And we don't respect or value them. I think of the owner of the field in Jesus's story. Did he not know what he had? Didn't he realize what it was worth?
Let us be sure our exchanges are wise!
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