“Giving is the highest expression of potency.
In the very act of giving,
I experience my strength,
my wealth,
my power.
This experience of heightened vitality and potency fills me with joy.
I experience myself as overflowing,
spending,
alive,
hence as joyous.
Giving is more joyous than receiving,
not because it is a deprivation,
but because in the act of giving
lies the expression of my aliveness.”
-Erich Fromm-
I am privileged to have some wonderful children. Really not prejudiced… well, yes, I am, but most people who know them would say the same. On December 18, I was able to hear him give this talk on Zoom that truly touched me. Most of his do, but this was timely and really spoke to me. I am sharing it with you.
“I have found that one of the reasons that people love this time of year is because of the Christmas Spirit that people allow to be felt through their action. It is a time of year that is culturally, regardless of faith, people go against the normal culture of society and sacrifice something for someone else.
The Christmas Spirit… is felt more, at this time of year, because more people are doing selfless acts. More people are engaged in a righteous cause together which allows a strength of the spirit among us that isn’t found at other times of the year.
I want to share with you something I learned recently: The Sea of Galilee is a lush area and the water is beautiful. You can walk on to the main dock and see fish on both sides. It is a provider to the area and people look to the sea to provide for them. It flows out to become a lush river and down into the Dead Sea where the water is briny. The Dead Sea is not far away but is very different. You can’t do much with it. There isn’t anything alive in it. There is not that much beauty around it. The source is the same but the Sea of Galilee … gives and doesn’t just receive.
I believe it is a time of cleansing for many people in a way where they focus on … giving instead of receiving. Today, unfortunately, consecrating oneself to a cause or sacrificing anything for anyone else is becoming countercultural. We can learn how we can think of someone else rather than ourselves first.
Mary could have focused on the burden that this would cause her but she saw it as a blessing. She even rejoiced in it because of what it would offer the people of the world… We, too, have many times where we jump to judgment and assume the worst rather than giving people the benefit of the doubt. And if they did do something, we want full judgement to come against them no matter the impact. We can be more like Joseph and choose to act quietly and with extreme kindness…
God could have done whatever he wanted. [The child] did not need to be born in a stable but he could have been born in the best Inn in town. The focus was not on where He was born but that he was born…
In life we are also taxed with many things. • Are you hungry? • Are you lonely? • Are you hurt? • Does the burden you carry seem too large to bear? Do you feel like there is no room for you in the Inn? • Do you feel like you don’t belong? • Do you feel…forgotten …? • Do you feel like you are forced to be in a manger when you want to be somewhere else? We … may want him to allow us to be in a mansion when he wants us to be in a stable … Are we okay to be in a stable and to focus on [how we can be used] to bless those around us?
I am amazed that the Shepherds hurried to Bethlehem. It isn’t that they didn’t have important things to do. Their livelihoods got sacrificed so they could hurry. If they would have focused differently, they would not have gotten …there… in time…
“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” and he has said, “If ye love me, feed my sheep.”
You started as a baby and you were born with his light in your eyes. As you grew so did that light it shined bright when you helped someone, forgave someone, loved someone, or treated someone as [we are] taught.
This Christmas the world needs your light, your family needs your light. The hungry, the lonely, close friends and complete strangers all need your light. … it is time to let your light shine. At this time of year, may we be the Sea of Galilee … I promise you that as you learn to give while you receive … your life will be… beautiful and of value to you and those you are around. You may still have to spend time in a manager but that won’t matter because you are focused on bringing the joy … to others. You can offer up treasures that people have never before witnessed. You can be the star to guide them. You can be the inn to shelter them and let them rest. You can lighten the taxes they have to pay in life. You can be the best Christmas gift they will have received since that day over 2000 years ago.”
©Dustin Thompson 12.18.22
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