Meaningful Gifts Redefine Christmas

What do you give to the person who has everything? What about a goat? Or perhaps a flock of chickens? Not only will the gift of a goat or chickens be unforgettable, it will be a more lasting present than most of the gifts given this year.

Of course, I’m not actually suggesting that you pack up a goat and ship it off to your Mom and Dad. The goat might keep the grass cut and the chickens could well provide some tasty eggs for breakfast, but livestock would be more imposition than gift for most Americans. But if the animals are given through Heifer Project International, the gift of livestock can transform a whole community over time.

I have seen this on the ground while working in Tanzania. The church I worked with there as an intern in 1998 took part in Heifer Project. The community had a cow that was donated by a person in America. The cow had gone to one family who raised it until the cow gave birth to a calf. They kept the cow and gave the calf back to the project, making their local Heifer chapter self perpetuating. Through a single donation, many families came to have a steady source of milk and a minor source of income. This is just one example of the many development programs offered at www.heifer.org. Any of these gifts will still be helping another community long after the latest electronic gadgets have become obsolete.

Heifer Project itself is just one example of several ways in which you can change your pattern of giving in a way that makes the world a better place to live. After all, Christmas is a time of giving to others. Yet much of this giving does a little to stimulate the economy, but does nothing to provide any lasting change. Much of the giving we do accomplishes nothing toward Jesus’ command to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, and clothe the naked.

The rest of today's religion column is online here: Meaningful Gifts Redefine Christmas