Welcome back to the last day of the series “5 Days of Serving Others through the Holidays!”

Every day this week we explored a different way to celebrate Christmas. As a matter of fact, I’m turning Christmas around by suggesting ways to gift those around you with something that most likely won’t cost much. I think that whatever you do spend, however, you’ll find to be so worth your while…

During the past week, I’ve been proposing ways to gift those around you with acts of service (if you’re familiar with Gary Chapman’s book “The Five Love Languages“, you’ll know what I mean).

This mini-series presented ways to serve:

• Monday – our spouse
• Tuesday – our family
• Wednesday – our church
• Thursday – our community
• Friday – the world at large!

Serving Others During the Holidays – Reaching the World

Sometimes the concept of reaching the world is so overwhelming to us that we just shut down. But a more pro-active way to look at it might be through the lens of that famous inquiry about how to eat the elephant.

Just taking on “one bite at a time” is an awesome – and even Biblical – approach to being salt and light in a world that is in such desperate need.

Admittedly, reaching the world takes a little money. I’m not apologizing for that, tho: it is what it is. I think, however, that you’ll find equal amounts of time and talents involved in this last area we’re exploring this week.

Reaching the world always starts at home…let’s just not let it end there, too.

So here are some simple steps to take to reach the world during the Christmas season. (Of course, feel free to keep this up throughout the year!)

• Participate in Operation Christmas Child. For many years, we had each of our kids fill a shoebox, and even helped with local collection efforts. Older kids can go with the family to one of their processing centers, too.
• Sponsor a child through Compassion, or Save the Children, or World Vision.
• Provide Christmas for a child/family via Angel Tree.
• Instead of expensive (and face it, soon tossed) Christmas gifts, elect to finance clean water (thru Charity Water) or a farm animal (thru Heifer Intl) in a 3rd world country on behalf of an adult family member.
• Help the Gideons International and make a donation to help them place Bibles in the hands of people who don’t have them…
• Get the address of a missionary family in your church or denomination and put together a surprise package for them. Check with the sending organization to see what limitations there might be, and explore shipping costs beforehand.

And, of course, we’d love to hear your neat ideas in the comments – so share away! I hope this concept of giving the gift of service this Christmas inspired you to explore other ways to be generous, now and all year long.