Making Christmas Miracles Through Service
Serving During Christmas Time
If you want to ensure that you and your family have a happy, fulfilled holiday season, no matter what’s under the tree, why not become strategic givers? No problem if you don’t have extra cash.
There are many ways to serve that don’t cost a cent. It has been proven in many different studies that helping others relieves depression and anxiety and has many other great health benefits.
When a family serves together, unforgettable memories are created and hearts can be forever changed. In fact, just about any way you look at it, service can be a true Christmas miracle.
Christian Serving Through Christmas
Giving—No Money Required
You don’t have to save or spend money to make a significant impact in the lives of others. No matter where you live, charitable opportunities usually abound during the holidays. On Thanksgiving Day, for instance, complimentary meals are usually served for the poor of the city, and volunteers are needed.
The following are more cost-free ideas for serving others during the holiday season:
- Help elderly or overly taxed neighbors with their yard, whether it’s lawn mowing and weed-eating or clearing snow from sidewalks.
- Visit sick people at the hospital, such as fellow church members. Another volunteer opportunity may be to rock newborns in the local hospital NICU.
- Go through all family members’ clothing and donate any clothes that have been pushed to the back of the closet.
- Offer to babysit as a family for couples that could use a night out. Have fun activities for the children, and make it a memorable time.
- Pray together daily for missionaries, youth ministers, pastors, or others who can use all the prayer support they can get.
More Volunteer Ideas
If you can afford to bake cookies for others or make a small or large financial investment, the opportunities for giving truly abound. The following are more ideas for putting others first during the season of giving:
- Make enough Christmas cards for all of the people at a nursing home. Have kids involved with distributing them, if possible.
- Bake treats for neighbors or prepare a meal for a sick or elderly friend or neighbor.
- Prepare and send care packages for soldiers who are overseas during the holidays.
- Choose a needy family to provide for at Christmas, and give them both necessities and gifts appropriate for each family member. Various organizations may be able to help you identify families that can use some help, such as social services agencies and churches.
- Throw a lavish Christmas party, asking all guests to bring donations for the needy. Pass gifts on to local charities.
Merry Christmas and Giving!
The genius of volunteering at Christmastime is that the activity is a stress-reliever.
Being overly concerned with buying gifts for a long list of family members, co-workers, fellow churchgoers, and others often has the opposite effect. But the real miracle of serving others at Christmas is that it promotes feelings of overwhelming thankfulness and joy.
