There is no other way to put it. I grew up in Southern
Ontario where we do have winter, and occasionally we even get snow days – days when
copious amounts of big wet snowflakes fall in one night and the roads are
virtually impassable. But here in the Prairies we get cold days. We get days when the temperature is so cold that even us
hardened westerners can’t in good conscience send our kids into the wintery abyss.
So it’s no surprise that in this part of the world we have adapted to our
climate by practicing some sort of civilized hibernation.
It’s not an uncommon story for people who have moved here
from warmer parts of the world to find this place somewhat inhospitable – not just
with regards to the climate, but the people as well. From the time the
temperature dips below zero our neighbours become strangers, we exit our houses
into our garages, drive our cars out of our garages and then reverse the
routine when we return home. We don’t stop and linger for conversations over
the fence and the only time we’re outside where we have the opportunity to interact
with our neighbours for extended periods of time we are bundled up and pushing
and conversation killing snow-blower to clear our driveway in the shortest
possible time. We hibernate during the winter.
And because we hibernate we have developed a culture of
investing in our homes that doesn’t exist in other parts of the world in the
same way. We buy bigger TVs, louder stereo systems, more video games, we have
more comfortable furniture, bigger toy boxes and consume more media than people
in other parts of the world. We hunker down for the winter and make sure that
we have everything we could want and need so that we don’t need to come out
until spring. In some indirect sort of way, our climate encourages consumerism.
I always thought this was normal. Perhaps you do too.
Even in Southern Ontario, where the weather is somewhat less extreme this was
the cultural practice. But then I went and married someone from across the
pond. And I was introduced to a culture that sees things differently. I married
someone where the culture is to spend money differently. Not that they are
somehow morally superior, or less consumeristic but they express it in
different ways. In a place where the climate does not encourage hibernation
people tend to spend less on their entertainment centres, they tend to build
less extravagant home theatres, the kids tend to have fewer toys and on a
strictly square footage basis, the homes tend to be smaller.
What drives this cultural difference? A cultural value that
places experience over stuff.
A 2007
study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research shows the disparity
between the European mindset and the North American. Only Japan and the USA
have less paid vacation than us and I think that we are likely strongly
influenced in our cultural values by the USA, a country which stands alone
among wealthy nations as the only country with zero requirements for paid vacation.
I think that largely as a result of the cultures in which
they exist, Europeans spend much more per-capita on holiday expenses and North
Americans spend much more per-capita on luxury items. This is the difference
between hibernation and vacation. In fact, according to the United Nations
World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Europeans travel
more than all other people groups combined! Interesting, perhaps, but what
does all of this economic mumbo jumbo have to do with Advent?
This is where it all comes together for me. Last week I
saw a Facebook meme travelling around that encouraged people to spend twice as
much time with their kids and half as much money on them. It was trite advice
given in a tongue and cheek sort of way but it really resonated with my
experience of the last month. This past November, for the first time since our
honeymoon 9 ½ years ago, we took a family vacation that was just for our
family. That means a trip that was not rolled into a ministry event or
conference, a trip that was not about visiting family and exposing our children
to their Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins, a trip that was just the five
of us in the mini-van for long hours of driving and uncomfortable amounts of
quality time together. And it was awesome. For the first time in way too long,
I got to know my kids better; I got to reconnect with my wife; we had the chance
to enjoy making memories that will (hopefully last a lifetime) and I started to
question whether all this hibernation was taking its toll on us.
It’s no secret that I am a materialistic person. If I
ever gave you the impression otherwise, I’m sorry – that was a lie. I am. I’m a
toy collecting, gadget craving, technology obsessed, consumeristic schlub. I
wish I could tell you that it wasn’t the case, but it is. God still has a lot
of work to do in my heart to purge me of this vice – but one of the things he’s
already working on is my desire to channel my consumerism into areas that have a
more lasting and redeeming impact than the way I have traditionally spent my
money.
That means, as I shared yesterday, no more buying
children’s toys. That means prioritizing spending money on experiences this
holiday season more than spending money on stuff. As a family we made the
decision this year that all of our holiday spending would go toward that vacation
we had in November, so we gave ourselves permission to do a little more when we
were away than we would have anyways – we traded stuff for memories and I don’t
for a second regret the trade. In Luke 13 Jesus, when talking about greed
teaches the crowds with a parable about a greedy farmer who thinks he can hoard
his bumper crop and find rest and security in the abundance of his stuff.
Notably in verse 15 he says:
“Watch out! Be on
your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of
possessions.”
Luke 13:15 (TNIV)
I think that this verse is an important one for me this
Advent. It’s a lesson that I need to understand how little value I have really
received from my investment in stuff over the years and how much more reward I
have received even in a very short time from experiences. Because next year,
when our TV seems too small, and our Wii seems outdated and my iPhone seems
unbearably archaic I’ll still want more stuff, but the memories that I have
made with my family won’t expire. Not for me, and hopefully not for them
either.
My Advent resolution for today is to place a higher value
on vacation than I do on hibernation. What is God leading you in this Advent
season?
In Christ,
Chris
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