Christmas Surprises and Creative Generosity

We can be challenged to love as Christ loves, fervently, exhibiting the characteristics that He will produce.  Here are some admonitions from Romans 12:
9Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.10Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;11not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;12rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer...
I want to key in on the second part of verse 10 - here we are told to give preference to one another - in honor.  I believe this is tied up in putting the needs of another person about those of our own.  We can be so self-centered at times, and God is calling us to take our eyes off ourselves and how we can get our needs met and our wants supplied, and to focus on Him and how He would use us to minister to others.   I think that the diligence that Paul speaks of in verse 11 can be applied to how devoted we are to Christ and devoted to seeing Him expressed through us.

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A passage from Philippians 2 can encourage us to get our eyes off ourselves and concentrate rather on how we can minister to others:
1Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,2fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.3Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.4Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Suppose a delivery driver showed up at your door with a Christmas gift from your or your daughter's favorite singer - would that create some excitement?

Well, that is the case from the now-well-known exploits of arguably the top pop star in the universe - the inimitable Taylor Swift.  Now, I wouldn't consider myself a fan, but you have to admit, what she did for a few dozen of her fans during the Christmas season was, well, pretty epic.

The Christian Post, along with a host of other media outlets, reported on the story. Maybe you've seen the video - millions have.  It begins with a caption that explains the concept of what is called "Tay-lurking, whereupon every detail of a fan's likes, job, whereabouts was studied intently."  Then a single Santa emoji would appear on their social media.

The pop star documented her wrapping presents and placing them in FedEx boxes.  The video also shows what happened when fans received the boxes.  One fan even got a visit from Swift herself. She gave the woman a mini-motorized car for her little boy.   She apparently penned notes to each recipient.

As the Post points out, Swift has been known to interact with her fans in special ways. Shortly before the release of her recent 1989 album, she invited fans to listening parties in several cities. A group of fans were also featured in one of her videos.

Her 1989 album was ultimately named the best-selling album of the year by Billboard.  She was also named Most Charitable Celebrity by a website called DoSomething.org.  The New York Daily News reported that Swift announced that all proceeds from her single, Welcome to New York, would be given to the public school system during an October appearance on The View.  The singer has also supported Feeding America, UNICEF, and Habitat for Humanity.  She has also donated $100,000 to the American Red Cross to help victims of a 2008 flood in Iowa.

Certainly, one could read the stories or watch the video and come away with the impression that this is just an attempt to generate publicity.  A brilliant one.  While this is sure to build the Taylor Swift brand, I think that Taylor's actions in the past, including the exhaustive list of charities that she has supported do indicate a significant measure of generosity.  Check out LookForTheStars.com to see a list of the charitable efforts in which she's been involved. 

So, regardless of what you may think about Taylor's life choices or lyrical content (see Plugged In review of the 1989 album), there is some inspiration we can take away from her Christmas surprises.

For one thing, Taylor studied her fans - of course, she was accessing information that was being freely posted on the Internet.  I think this can challenge each of us - how often to we actually study our family members or our friends to determine how we can effectively share with them?  She made a determination about what her fans would like to receive, rather than what she would want them to have.  Even if you think it was all contrived, I think you can admit that this can illustrate for us the importance of taking the eyes off ourselves and really determining what we can do to show kindness to another person by focusing on they want, rather than what we want.   The Bible teaches us an attitude of unselfishness when we relate to others, including those that are closest to us.

I also think this series of Christmas surprises can challenge our creativity.  We can look for or even create opportunities to express our generosity in meaningful ways - not just merely going through the motions because it's the right thing to do, but showing some thoughtfulness.  That may even involve surprising someone we care about with tangible expressions of kindness.