advent conspiracy

i have a confession. something that's been weighing on my heart for about a year now. i have an addiction. one i'm not proud of. an addiction to stuff. i'd really like to re-say that. i think the more appropriate way of saying that statement would be "an addiction to shit." pardon my french. but it's true! it's all just crap! i won't be able to take any of it with me. none of it is eternal. it's just junk that accumulates in my house, more like my closet. the problem is....i like so many different kinds of things, so many different styles. but i don't need any of it. but i still buy it. i get a little rush when i buy it, but the feeling doesn't last. i feel empty just a few minutes later. and the funny thing about it is, when i GIVE the feeling lasts a lot longer. i actually LOVE giving. but i just don't think of doing it very often. my friend kristin mentioned the advent conspiracy to me yesterday. i really liked what i heard. and then today i got an email from my cousin tori with the advent conspiracy you tube video. what a cool message. and a good reminder!

every year my family struggles to figure out what we should get each other. the problem is we're mostly all on our own now. so when there's something we want, we usually just go out and get it for ourselves. and the stuff that we don't go out and get ourselves is expensive stuff that our family probably wouldn't buy for us either. we end up spending so much money buying a gift for each person and it's all just dumb stuff. something just to give eachother. so this year before thanksgiving we started racking our brains thinking of something we could do different. gift cards for each other? draw names? a price limit? what? we decided that instead of buying gifts for eachother - when we already have WAY more than we could ever want or need - we would find a family in need and shop for them this year. i am so excited about this for so many reasons. 1) i love to give. 2) i'm looking forward to the bonding time with my family, going out and getting needs and surprises for another family and wrapping them up together. 3) because christmas was sometimes a struggle for my mom (a single working mom) and if it weren't for the friends and family around us who helped support us it would have been WAY more difficult.

so we decided that it was my mom's job to go out and find a family in need. she found one, and they happily accepted our offer. i can't wait!

i think my biggest goal and focus for 2009 is going to be to focus less on materialism and more on my creator. all these wants have started to become a distraction in my walk with god. i want to buy less and spend more time and resources that will bring him glory.

watch the video above. and think about it. what can you do differently this year? to spend more time with your family, less money on the things that are unnecessary and give more to those in need?

[worship fully] [spend less] [give more] [love all]

xoxo,

(ah)