Ah Christmas.

i love this time of the year. its where pple give well wishes and presents. hahaha. presents.

its a time of remembering and sharing the birth of Christ. i think i wrote about this last year too.

but i think above all, a time for humility. and goodwill.

i think its been overly commercialized. there is too much "tradition" being exploited here. we give presents because the 3 wise men gave them to our Lord Christ. and also cos God gave us the perfect gift as well. but like the sermon today said, it has become too much of a wanting things for ourselves. i mean pple expect exchanging presents and not just giving presents. see the difference? and pple change their material goods way too often. like phones and music players. and especially so for us, its the holidays, time to spend that money we have been saving up all year or for our parents to spend their year end bonus if they had one.

not sure why, but i enjoy these verses, its a reminder of humility to me

proverbs 30:7-9

7 "Two things I ask of you, O LORD;

do not refuse me before I die:
8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;

give me neither poverty nor riches,

but give me only my daily bread.
9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you

and say, 'Who is the LORD ?'

Or I may become poor and steal,

and so dishonor the name of my God.
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i like this. we have pride. it makes us happy to take pride. but we know where pride can bring us to. and the ignorance it brings. always remind yourself how small you are, how blessed you are by the generosity of God and not your own gifting alone.

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even the amount in your wallet. every cent is put there by God. a speaker once told us he saw his dad write a check of 400 for the church every month. it reminds himself to not be materialistic while allowing the money to be used doing God's work as God has blessed him to be able to do so. i'm not sure if i mentioned this before, but yea, your heart is where your treasure lies (matt 6:21) does it lie with your cash and possessions or for God and for others? and if u had only a 10 dollar note in your wallet, when normally you give 2 bucks. will you just skip that turn of giving and say give 4 bucks next time?

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even the salvation army pple know that this is the most "generous" time of the year. i don't feel generous giving money to charity or getting gifts for others. but i feel humbled. hahaha try this. leave the house with 10 dollars in your wallet and then try again with 100 dollars. which do you feel more comfortable with? maybe my maths is poor, but with less, i get to count blessings more closely.

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same goes for other forms of riches that go beyond material possesions.

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i guess what i also mean is what yen feels should be life's moto: moderation.

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sure there is unfairness all around. there are times when i am better off, there are times when i am worse off. you know how pple complain of how can God let there be suffering in the world? i believe that God does provide enough. problem then is in spreading it out. i don't believe that a completely equalized world might work as a utopia. but then i do believe that we can eliminate extremes by starting with ourselves. we may not have much, but we need to find avenues to spread what we have. and avenues are not hard to find.

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let me give u this example. if you are working long hours in school with no opportunity for lunch, and someone gets u something to eat on their way to school. i'm pretty sure you would be glad and grateful. now simple. just do the same thing for others. and it does not cost you much either. it can cost you nothing at all if the person pays you back, its like providing a service based on what you have at that time and what others don't.

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remember how Christ is the ultimate example of humility, from his beginnings to his end on earth.

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to me, pride i can forget quickly, like grass and flowers of a field that whilt and die (1peter1:24) . a humbling experience, is harder to forget.

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have you ever made a list of your blessings? i have not. mainly cos i'm too lazy cos i know it will be a really really long list.

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so yea, have a humbling Christmas!