Not Your Ususal Shopping Article
© Reginald Vickers
Are you a priest? I have a confession to make, if you are. I am a selfish person. I have fooled some and others I have not. This Christmas I had planned on it being different. After Thanksgiving, I decided that this Christmas was going to reflect more of the giving of God than the getting of man. Two hours after that decision, I started getting the "new computer bug" and the giving went out the window.
Since Thanksgiving, I have been working non-stop on ways to justify a new computer. I really didn't need one. I wanted one. I had a great 166 that my friend, Steve Odinetz, designed for me. But I lusted for a 333 or 350 with 8m video, 6+G hard drive, 36X cd, blah, blah blah! I have spent every extra second since Thanksgiving in solitary confinement scheming and researching how to sell my older computer and find the right one for myself. It wasn't long afterward that I sold my computer on eBay to a nice chap at Cooperstown Sports in Cooperstown, NY and I bought a new one that satisfied my yearnings through OnSale. Yet all the time in my heart, I felt like Scrooge. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with buying a new computer. For me that voice inside of me has said it just isn't quite right (and that voice wasn't from my wife). This had more to do with commitment and promises. Selfishness.
I had purchased 80% of my presents on the Net this year but still had to put on my army boots and march through the enemy lines of the shoppers to fight for that perfect deal. Once there I found myself looking more for computer information than for the presents I would purchase for the ones I loved. Selfishness.
Last week, I recieved a Christmas card from my cousin, Bobby, who is in prison. I thought about how I need to go see him. Then I said to myself I don't have time during this busy Christmas season. As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I heard a voice say, "When you do it to the least of my brethern, you do it to Me." Selfishness.
I'm not saying we are all selfish. I'm only pointing the finger at one. Me. I asking that you search your heart too. What have you done for the least of these? What have you done for those in prison, nursing homes, the homeless, the fatherless, the widow, or the lonely? I'm not writing this to bring guilt upon you but action. If each of us reach out to one person, what a difference that can make.
