Roadside signs suggest simpler way to celebrate

We have only four more days to shop, wrap, bake and clean. We might have been working toward this celebration since last December, yet we wonder: "How did Christmas get here so quickly?" So we take a deep breath, whisper, "Here we go!" and rush into the final week.

We will head out to buy "extra" gifts, knowing in our hearts that those extras are superfluous, that few of us or those we love need more "stuff." We'll bake another batch of cookies, knowing we eat too many of them during the holidays. We'll vacuum the carpets, knowing we will only have to repeat that chore when all those packages are opened and the cookie crumbs scattered.

Caught up in the frenzy of Christmas, I was brought up short one day while driving past Hempfield United Methodist Church, where there is posted a series of signs, much like the Burma Shave signs of old, that offers this holiday advice: "Love More. Give More. Buy Less."

Give more? Buy less? How do we do that? Do we forgo the kids' new Wii game and make ourselves more available to others? Will we be comfortable armed with fewer gifts and offering, instead, our time and talents? Pondering those roadside signs, I see them as words of wisdom, especially because the two final posters suggest we "Worship Wholly" and keep Christ in Christmas.

But material matters have interfered with that mindset. So now, for the next few days, I will try to love more, give more, buy less, worship wholly and, most important, keep Christ in Christmas — abandoning chaos for simple joy.

Wouldn't you like to join me?