A whopping 68% of Americans surveyed for a recent poll surrounding Christmas gift-giving say that they prefer to give rather than receive — and it’s actually the biggest reason for their joy during the season.
The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Minted, asked 2,005 Americans to specify their favorite part of the holiday season.
Their response?
Gift-giving. Sixty-eight percent of those who responded said that they would rather shower their loved ones with material blessings than open gifts themselves.
According to the poll, 57 percent of respondents said that they not only look forward to spoiling their loved ones even more for 2021’s holiday season when compared to previous years, but have added more names to their gift lists.
A Minted spokesperson said that despite the varying stressors of the ongoing pandemic, people are eager to share their love through the holiday season when it comes to gift-giving, gathering for holiday celebrations, and engaging in festive activities like baking cookies, sharing heirloom recipes, or listening to holiday music that keeps them in the joyful, grateful mood.
“With a focus on quality family time and giving gifts rather than receiving, this year’s holiday season is shaping up to become a joyful return to the beloved values and traditions of years past,” the spokesperson said of the findings.
Now just imagine if 68% of Americans continued this thee-before-me trend past the holiday season and into 2022 and beyond.
God calls us to be our brother’s keeper — and what better way to demonstrate God’s love to others than to put them ahead of ourselves?
Galatians 6:2 says, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Philippians 2:3-4 instructs, ” … [I]n humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”
Romans 12:10 adds, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Matthew 5:42 says, “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”
Much like how many holiday interactions dictate, what if all of God’s children continued to give beyond the season without even having been asked?
No one is meant to go through this life alone, and God calls us to be in constant communion with Him — which includes loving and honoring His other children.
Let’s all agree to carry the Christmas-giving spirit through the rest of the year and into the next — this year and every year thereafter.
Despite political and cultural division coupled with the exacerbating effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we can carry this spirit with us wherever we go, touching the lives of those who need it most and sending ripples across the country — and the globe.