‘TIS THE SEASON FOR MATERIAL THINGS …

       Hubby and I just finished watching DANCES WITH WOLVES for probably the 20^th time since the movie was released 34 years ago. Has it really been that long? Even so, DANCES WITH WOLVES remains important to history and to Native American life of the past. Any young people who do not know much about our Native Americans would do well to watch DANCES WITH WOLVES. 

 

        The reason I mention this is because something different from the magnificent scenery and history in the movie struck me while viewing it this time. In one scene the Sioux tribe involved decides to move camp, and in just minutes they take down their tepees and load them onto horses and travois, gather their remuda of horses and leave. What impressed me is how fast our Native Americans could pick up and move everything. And that is because they did not need anything more than their buffalo skin houses and the poles they cut to raise them … nothing more than the clothes on their backs (and most of those were also made of animal skins) … nothing more than pemmican (smoked or dried and pounded meat) … berries that grew wild … and their bedrolls, utensils and weapons … again, all of it made from animals, trees and plants.

 

      How simple was such a life. Everything they needed came from Mother Earth and Her gifts of plants and animals … everything they wore, cleansed themselves with, heated and cooked with, ate, and used for weapons. Just think of the tremendous work it is for us today to pick up move to a new home. It takes days, sometimes weeks to go through all our material belongings, throw out useless junk, give some of it away, pack what’s left, hire movers to help us haul it to a new home, unpack and put away our possessions, then consider how much it all cost us. Once it is all in place, we sit down and wearily look at all our “things” and decide if a certain picture or a piece of furniture belongs in a different spot. We need to call the electric company, the heating company, the phone company, change our address with the post office, call the credit card banks and take care of a hundred other things involved with letting these places know we have moved to a new address.

 

        Do we really need so much “stuff?” Why are we so obsessed with having lots of “things,” let alone thinking they must be the best brands or prettiest designs or the most expensive “whatevers?” Even the first settlers who headed west tried to bring all kinds of possessions along, like big pieces of furniture that had to be dumped along the way because such things made the wagons too heavy to be pulled through the mountains. 

 

        Today Christmas comes with rushing and shopping and spending money, all to give gifts that often turn out to be of no real significance to those who receive them. Some of those gifts are returned, and what is kept becomes just another “possession” for he or she who receives the gift. I do not mean to sound like the Grinch here at all. I just worry that all the planning and spending at Christmas time has become such a big business and such a perceived necessity that we lose track of the true meaning of Christmas. 

 

        Yes, wise men visited the baby Jesus and brought gifts, as the future Savior’s parents rightly deserved to survive and take care of their child. These were precious gifts that had meaning at that time. But somehow man interpreted that gift-giving as meaning we had to do the same for others at Christmas. It is a beautiful idea, but that first gift-giving did not mean that generations later people had to go into worrisome debt to give gifts to each other. And when we do give gifts, we should remember that we do so as a way of honoring the birth of Jesus, not because little Johnny wants a new toy, or teenage Cindy wants a pair of cool jeans just to impress her friends.

 

        The purpose of this blog is simply to remind others that most people are already bogged down with so many possessions that sometimes we build a new storage closet, buy a new chest of drawers, or install an outdoor shed to put it all in. And once we do that, how often do use that gift? How often do we secretly return a gift for something we need more? How important is it to have a house full of “stuff?”

 

        I am just as guilty of having a house full of “things” as my neighbors, but in watching those Sioux in DANCES WITH WOLVES gather their necessities and ride off so quickly, thought how nice it would be if it were that easy today. I have not moved, and I don’t even plan on it, but at times when hubby and I talked about getting a new house, the thought of what it would take to move out of the house we already live in made me decide to stay right where we are. Ugh! Going through the house and all the closets and drawers and the garage and our shed would be a tremendous project that I do not have the strength or energy for. 

 

        So, here I sit tonight, surrounded by all our pretty “things” but realizing none of it is all that important … realizing that somewhere along this trail of shopping and decorating and baking and buying even more “stuff” for that decorating and for that Christmas meal and for all those presents I feel I need to wrap and give away, I forgot what it is really all about. And that is the reason for this blog … just to remind everyone to give deep thought to the true meaning of Christmas. It is about family and sharing and thanking God for sending His Son to earth to bring us hope and forgiveness.

 

        MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU. May Christmas Day make you thankful for all those gifts, but also help you remember the true meaning of Christmas and the gift-giving that comes with it. If all you can afford is the gift of love and caring, that means just as much as a new “thing” that has only material value.