Give My Heart: A Christmas Contest

GIVE MY HEART

Christina Rosetti’s poem, In the Bleak Midwinter, isn’t my favorite Christmas poem–or hymn.  But it does bring home one point that I find very relevant in our materialistic world and in my own life.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I would do my part,
Yet what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.

True sacrifice to God isn’t just about bulls and goats.  It isn’t just about giving away stuff or money or time.  It’s about making a sacrifice of our entire selves, body and spirit.  See Romans 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers,by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

In my humble opinion, that’s the real shame of our culture’s Christmas traditions.  Not that we buy and give too much, but that we don’t give enough.  We (I) walk down the candy/gift isle of Target or some other box store, and we (I) grab about 10 random coffee mugs and sausage plates.  Wrap ’em up as fast as possible in the cheapest not-ugly paper available so we (I) can check someone off the list.

What is the point of that?  How is that glorifying to God?

I always say I’m going to do Christmas different.  I always say I’m going to make some really nice stuff or come up with personal gifts–gifts that SAY something besides, “I saw this ugly sweater and thought of you…” or “Ok, I bought you something, now where’s my sausage?”

WHAT IF…?

So here’s my dream…What if, instead of ONLY giving our money to folks in big box stores, we used part of our Christmas funds to support Christian artists and writers?  What if we as Redeemedreaders took the time to get to know gifted Christians who make beautiful things to the glory of God, and we chose to encourage them with our Christmas purchases?

What if instead of buying another meaningless plastic princess for our kids, we chose to buy wholesome books and crafts and art that would enrich us and our children morally and spiritually?

What if we invested our own sweat, blood, and Dr. Pepper into presents we created?  And what if our kids could help us make those presents and learn a new skill in the process?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not anti-Walmart or Target or even Amazon.  (Although Occupy Target does sound kind of yummy.  They have a great selection of coffees and teas, and then there are the slurpees and big pretzels….)  I am so grateful for the cheap and efficient products they and other large corporations bring into our homes on a daily basis.  But when it comes to personalizing a gift and finding a present that will impact kids for eternity–sometimes it does help to think outside the big box.

A CONTEST

The week after Thanksgiving, we’ll begin our Christmas reporting in earnest.  We’ll have lots of gift book suggestions, as well as a critical analysis of ereaders by a professor at Pepperdine University.  (Don’t buy the new Kindle or Nook until you read it!)  But we’d also like to do something else.  We’d like to feature several Christian entrepreneurs,  artists, crafters, whatever who make wholesome, unique products–or who can help us make our own.  And we’d like you to help us choose them!  Just leave a link…and they’ll be entered to win a feature on our site.  PLUS, if we choose your nominee, YOU’LL win your choice of Melanie Heiser’s book art.  See below.

Keep in mind, we don’t have a litmus test for who’s truly Christian or what’s truly art on this.  We’ll happily let God sort that out.  We’re particularly interested in folks who make stuff out of books or for books ,or projects/items that might have a book tie-in, but we won’t limit it to that.  Feel free to get creative here!  (If I’m a blogger with a how-to-build-a-birdhouse post, I could be pair it with Cynthia Rylant’s The Bird House.)  See, instant book-related gift!  And of course, there is always the snack-while-you-read tie-in approach.  As far as I’m concerned, anything I could eat or drink while reading is fair game!

ARTIST BIO: Melanie Heiser

Melanie is one of our readers, and she’s just the sort of artist we’d like this contest to bring to your attention.  Melanie has a book blog, www.litchick.typepad.com, where she displays this quote by Anna Quindlen, “I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”  So funny.  And yet nearly true!

She’s also a twitter bug, https://twitter.com/#!/litchickcafe, and she has an etsy store, The Paper Pear, where she sells her book-based art.  I really hope you guys will check her out and be inspired…maybe even purchase a few items to support her.  At the least, you can browse around The Paper Pear and choose which picture you’d like if you win our contest.  Melanie has kindly offered to give one or two away to the folks who offer the best artist suggestions below.

So, what do you guys think?  Are you willing to give your heart this year?  Do you know a Christian who blogs about art or crafts–or creates something artistic himself?  Let us know!  We’ll be announcing winners on Monday, November 28, 2011.

Janie and I haven’t officially begun our Christmas book recommendations.  But if you’re an early shopper, we do have a number of reviews that you might be interested in: The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins for ages 4-10, Pilgrim’s Progress picture book for ages 4-12, The Charlatan’s Boy for ages 10+, and Never Before in History for ages 15+. 

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