Presence, Not Presents

What do you mean?

The title of this article – as you have probably already read – is Presence, Not Presents. I’ve been doing a bible study recently on the Bible app called Rediscovering the Christmas Season (follow this link to access this plan) and at the church I go to (New Hope Community Church, come join us sometime!!), we have been talking about advent. Both of these combined have gotten me to think quite a bit. My youth pastor has been preaching on advent conspiracy, and everything he says is impactful and thought-provoking but for me, what stuck out the most what the concept of Christmas being about presence not presents. We need to refocus on the meaning of Christmas – family and the birth of Jesus.

Presents

Christmas is the time when everyone begins to go into a frenzy of what to buy someone. Whether it be your mom, your dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, acquaintances, the neighbor, the pet goldfish – oh, and don’t forget that one person who gave you a pencil in class when you needed it that one time. This is just how crazy this time of year seems to be – and not only is this planning taking up time, it’s taking money as well. I know for a fact that I have gotten many gifts in my lifetime that I cannot even remember because, within a few months, I would throw them away, never use them or wear what someone had gotten me as a gift. However, what I do remember most is the moments. Moments when there was laughter, moments when there was quiet, moments when there was crying from laughing too hard, moments of relaxation. The moments, those are the things to cherish this time of year and hold onto for the rest of our lives. The material things will depreciate. Sure, maybe you do really want that phone or that computer or maybe you just want money to buy your own gift. I’m not saying to not buy anything at all, what I am saying that – in the words of my pastor – what if we gave our presence rather than presents? What if we put down the material things and set aside time for the people we love?

Presence

“The best gift around the Christmas tree is the presence of family wrapped in love. This Christmas, what if when you’re around family, you put down the phone when people are talking. Put down the phone when you’re doing a family activity. Put down the phone and just take everything in. Take pictures, but don’t make it about getting that ‘perfect Instagram post’. If you do post something, post it – but later. It can wait, time and moments can’t. Don’t get lost in the world on your phone, get lost in the situation around you and enjoy your family’s company – whoever you consider family. Give them your time, your patience, your attention, your presence. Don’t give them your presence halfway, give it fully. Maybe your gift to someone is a coffee run sometime,  maybe it’s a night out on the town, maybe it’s cooking together or just hanging out and enjoying one another’s company. Whatever it is, make the time this Christmas – or this upcoming year – to participate in becoming involved in people’s lives. But the most important presence during Christmas time and all the time, is His presence.

Advent

“The magic of Christmas is not the presents, but in His presence”. You may be wondering what exactly advent is. The Latin meaning of advent is ‘the coming or arrival’ – Hebrews looked forward to the coming of a Saviour or a Messiah, this was the first advent. Today, we wait for the second advent, which is His return. The time of Advent, in the words of Rediscovering the Christmas Season, is important to Christians because we get to look forward to His return every day, we get to refocus Jesus into our lives and we can expect to be inspired, challenged, broken, motivated, unified, encouraged and expectant. There was a question posed in my bible study that asked, “what did the announcement of Jesus mean to all of us?” After thinking about it, I realized that this announcement meant the world to, well, the world. Jesus’ birth meant that we are all loved strongly and fiercely and God loves us so much that He gave us His one and only Son to save us.  We are unworthy and I stand in awe of what He has done and is going to do. When Jesus was born, his family was in His presence and nothing else mattered. All that mattered was the fact that the Messiah was on Earth and Mary, Joseph and the shepherds were all together, in a stable. But it didn’t matter where they were, this was a moment, a moment that would change the world.

Refocus

This Christmas, I challenge everyone who reads this to refocus their time and attention on God. Even if you aren’t a Christian, you can still refocus on your family. If you’re up to it, I challenge you to both. Rediscover the meaning of Christmas and make it the best one yet. Open your eyes and mind to something greater than yourself.

– Ari Miranda, 12.13.2017