Continued from yesterday…<\/p>\n
3. Think about Jesus\u2019 entire life\u2014his birth, life, death, and resurrection\u2014not just his birth. Linking the Christmas story to the fact that without it we would have no hope of salvation is important, especially with younger children. Two ways that we do this include discussing, reading about, and singing about the names of Christ and what they mean throughout the month; and reading one of the Gospels\u2014not just the Christmas story\u2014during December. This helps us focus on our salvation even more. (Another thing we have done to focus on Jesus\u2019 entire life is to listen to Focus on the Family\u2019s radio theatre \u201cThe Luke Reports.\u201d I will put links to some excellent resources throughout December, so check back frequently!)<\/p>\n
4. Reach out to those less fortunate\u2014and do so in a way that costs you and your children something. I know that doesn\u2019t sound very \u201cChristmasy\u201d\u2014good cheer and mistletoe and all (btw, I love mistletoe if the right \u201cmistletoe-ee\u201d is around!), but taking a can to a canned food drive or parents buying gifts for the children to leave at the angel tree are not sacrifices for our children\u2014and do not do much to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas\u2014and the true meaning of sacrificial giving. <\/p>\n
When I speak of reaching out to those less fortunate, I am talking about giving up time (a few evenings or days?) and money (money with which a child could buy himself something). I\u2019m talking about doing hard things. I\u2019m talking about getting dirty, being inconvenienced, etc. I know that sounds strange, but honestly, what could we possibly do or give that would be too much for our Lord? Find true, meaningful service projects for your children\u2014extensive time spent at a nursing home or group home caroling, making cookies with residents, reading to them, etc.; earning money to be used to give gifts to truly poor or forgotten people (like county home residents or the disabled); going out into the homes of people who never have a Christmas visitor; serving food at a soup kitchen; cleaning mattresses at a rescue mission. Focus on others more than ever before this Christmas\u2014your children will thank you for it eventually. (For the new year, read the stories written by the author of Mandate for Mercy (also the founder of the Mercy Ship ministry) about how his mom made his family squeeze together in the car every week to pick up poor and desperate people to take them to church\u2014and the impact this had on this man causing him to spend his life on the poor and desolate\u2014this is the kind of reaching out we are purporting here.)<\/p>\n
*Copyright TFT 2008<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Continued from yesterday… 3. Think about Jesus\u2019 entire life\u2014his birth, life, death, and resurrection\u2014not just his birth. Linking the Christmas story to the fact that without it we would have no hope of salvation is important, especially with younger children. Two ways that we do this include discussing, reading about, and singing about the names […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[643,488,633,308,281],"tags":[267,330,644,287,280,317,277,107,195,283,311],"yoast_head":"\n