Put Relationships before Things

The holiday season presents us with one of our greatest priority challenges of all:  relationships versus things.  As we wander through the mall, we can try to tune out a child’s plea of “I want this, I want that.” We can channel-surf on TV to avoid the constant barrage of commercials. We can even toss our stacks of seasonal catalogs into the recycle bin without so much as a peek.
 
But let’s be honest. Despite best intentions—if we’re not careful—the focus of the holiday season can easily drift toward THINGS.While our society has progressed in many respects over the past 50 years, we’ve gone backwards in this respect…BIG TIME!
 
 
Relationships are enduring—things are not. Not surprisingly, most regrets in life involve relationships and priorities—rarely possessions. The more this can be modeled and ingrained in our children, the more quickly they will develop lives centered on others and experience true richness in life. In fact, the holiday season provides parents and educators tremendous opportunities to instill the values of relationships and service in our young people. 
 
The holidays are not supposed to be about the presents—what you give or what you get.  Gifts will come and go and no one will think twice about them. But you can never get back the time you didn’t spend with people. That’s a life regret you want to avoid at all costs!