"May I see your invitation, please?" an elderly woman standing at the front door to the grocery-store-converted-into-a-Christmas-charity-store asked. The year was 1997 and I was standing in line waiting to enter this store with our two youngest children. Megan, just seven, was in school. Jeremy was just five years old and still quite a handful with his predisposition to wandering, while Rebekah was just a baby. It was my intention to quietly slip in for Christmas shopping and this woman seemed to be calling unwanted attention to our little trio!
Handing my invitation to the woman I embarked on a 60- minute walk through aisles and aisles of items on display for the Christmas season. As I ambled along, pushing a shopping cart with Rebekah in her car seat and pulling Jeremy along beside, an escort explained the rules to me. "You may pick two gifts for each of your three children, one for your spouse and one for the family. We encourage families (poor families like you, she seemed to gently imply) to pick one clothing item and one toy for each child." Glancing around at the others in this special store, some families seemed genuinely poor as evidenced by their threadbare coats and sock-less attire (in the winter, no less) while others were dressed with comfortable and warm clothes like me. But we all had one thing in common: We were all shopping for free items in a charity-minded store.
So how did I get here? Well, I'm not really sure. Although humbling to receive, this invitation was most assuredly appreciated this Christmas year.
Two years earlier Rick and a business associate had started a consulting business after working for many years as a banker. They named this new business venture "Integrity Management". I.M. was beginning to show signs of success and we were hopeful to see profits at year-end. For two years we had lived on a fraction of what we'd been used to and we'd given most of our life's savings to the start-up of I.M. The new normal was very hard for me to live with mostly because I'd never learned how to spend money wisely. And there was an irrational fear that someday we could be living in the streets!
Still, someone had turned in our name for help with the cost of Christmas shopping. Were we poor? Not as much as many others, but we were living on a significantly lower salary than in previous years when both Rick and I worked. Now Rick was the only wage-earner and we had three children, one with special needs. I was scared and truthfully, a little angry with God for allowing us to be in this position. I chose to shop for free simply because the opportunity arose and I was just grateful to have someone help bear some of the financial burden for this year's Christmas.
I never did learn who submitted our name. Although humbled and slightly embarrassed, I was very grateful for their thoughtfulness.
As I picked gifts for each of the three children I was overcome with a sense of gratitude not only to our sponsor but also to God for offering this gift to help relieve the burden of Christmas spending. I still remember a couple of those gifts and have kept them as a remembrance, or sorts-- a yellow, knitted ski cap for Megan and warm wool blanket for the family. And as I moved along I resolved to push aside any smugness or pride within my heart. I realized that I wasn't any better than those who have less money than I did. I learned that life is what it is -- lemonade can be made with lemons, so to speak.
Since 1997 I have been able to purchase all our Christmas gifts. And we have enjoyed taking part in a number of Christmas charities like the Angel Tree program with Prison Fellowship Ministry and Operation Christmas Child through the Billy Graham Association. The one thing I enjoy the most about Christmas is the giving of gifts, thereby showing my love for another. God knew I was angry with our position in life and He helped me to understand that there is so much more to life than what we have or acquire. God showed His love for our family through the thoughtfulness of another so long ago.
"Every good gift, every perfect gift, comes from above, coming down from the Father who made the heavenly lights, in whose character there is no change at all." James 1:17
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