Credit cards are racking up charges on gifts and travel. The floors around Christmas trees are being filled with beautifully wrapped packages and festive gift bags. Food is being stuffed into refrigerators and freezers in preparation for holiday gatherings. In the midst of all of this extravagance my mysterious mind is pondering something: Am I splurging where it matters?
My Mysterious Mind
Raised as a frugal farm child, extravagant spending is difficult for me. At restaurants I choose my food by reading from the right to the left, considering the price before deciding what I want to eat. When awaiting the arrival of my newest grandchild, I watched the price of airfare, hoping he would arrive before the cost exceeded my comfort level. With the approaching Christmas holidays, there was a narrowing window of time before the cost of a quick trip to DC would rise above what my frugality would allow.
Thankfully, my sixth grandchild began his eviction from the security of his mother’s womb in time for me to grab a reasonably priced plane ticket. Phew! I wouldn’t need to feel guilty about splurging too much to get there.
However, with my son’s house too full of occupants, I needed a place to stay while in the area. The other grandparents were using the guest room; my son found me an Airbnb around the corner. With taxes and cleaning fees, my housing was slightly more than my airfare. Add two Uber trips to the total investment, and I dropped about $45 an hour for the actual time I was with my son and his new family (not counting the time I was sleeping at my studio apartment across from the U.S. Supreme Court).
Was it worth it? The trip was extravagant; did I splurge where it mattered?
You know the answer without me saying it. One hug alone was worth the price. When my son walked me “home” for the last time during my visit, we hugged good-bye. I turned to walk into my apartment building, and he said, “just one more hug.” As we embraced, he said, “thanks for being here.”
On the last flight home, I sat next to a man wearing a Kansas City Chiefs shirt. I asked him if he was a fan. He told me he was flying home from their game in Cleveland. “Oh,” I proclaimed, “you must be quite the fan!” “No,” he said, and described how he had been at the game with friends from across the country. The trip wasn’t about seeing the football game, it was about being together with some of his buddies. It was, in fact, only the second NFL game he had attended. His extravagant weekend trip wasn’t about watching strangers play football, it was a splurge where it mattered. He and his pals were together.
In 2012, one of my daughters was serving in the Army in South Korea. My husband strongly suggested we go visit her. I had money saved to remodel one of our bathrooms; we splurged and used that money for an 8-day international trip. With passports, flights, and other expenses, the bathroom fund was completely depleted. Every time I stepped into our still-ugly bathroom I rejoiced because I had splurged on an extravagant trip to be with my daughter. While there, we visited several amazing places in South Korea, but one of my fondest memories is watching her play softball on her team at the Army base. She was surprised I wanted to include that in my itinerary in such an exotic country. I told her I wanted to be able to say I hadn’t missed all her games in South Korea.
Extravagance is hard for me when I am splurging on myself, but easier when spending money to be where it matters. There are so many directions our money can go, especially at Christmas. When the bills arrive in January, what tales of extravagance will they tell? Will we have splurged where it mattered most?
Message of Mystery Acres
When we bought our rough patch of forest in 2019 there was absolutely no infrastructure. Over the years we have transformed the space into a private campground. Our motor home is a home-away-from home for my husband and I, and a beloved destination for our oldest grandsons. Wanting a place for our friends to join us, we prepared a tent-site, affectionately known as “Campsite Number One.” A smooth layer of mulch covers a rock-free base, which we maintain each year.
After helping our friends put up a tent a few times, my husband and I decided to purchase a small, pre-built cabin. “Cabin Number One” arrived in May of 2022. This cozy space has hosted a few different visitors who can easily enjoy an overnight stay without having to erect temporary shelter. It is also a favorite location for our grandsons to eat treats purchased from Buccee’s. This latter experience reminded me, once again, not to do something once with a child unless you are prepared to repeat it again and again.
Purchasing Cabin Number One was an extravagance for my husband and I. We have stayed there overnight, but less often than other people have. And we have invested additional money and many hours improving it. A bare structure has already changed into an insulated, paneled, carpeted space, complete with off-grid electricity and a bathroom. Next up are the decorative ceilings and the sleeping lofts. Our vision is a space used by family members and friends who will join us for a time together in the forest.
The message of Mystery Acres is a message of extravagance, where splurging creates spaces for people to be together in the forest. While my husband and I are staying in the motor home, someone we love can be staying “just around the corner.” Whatever it costs, the result is worth the money.
Ancient Mystery’s Voice
“Thank God for a gift too wonderful for words.” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
An extravagant gift is one so wonderful that words cannot sufficiently describe it. Such a gift can leave the receiver speechless. The overwhelming generosity of this kind of gift is beyond description. To what specific gift is the writer of 2nd Corinthians referring when he thanks God for a gift too wonderful for words?
God’s most extravagant gift arrived in the form of a helpless baby. But this wasn’t just another human. The splurge of God’s generosity was to send part of Himself into an infant. This indescribable gift is called “incarnation.” The divine and holy God became part of His own creation, specifically, a human child. Even as I attempt to describe this gift, I find the words don’t do it justice. How did the Creator of the universe fit into a little baby? Why did the Almighty God choose to take on human form?
What motivates an extravagant gift? Why did my husband and I fly to South Korea instead of remodeling an ugly bathroom? What compelled us to purchase and equip a cabin for Mystery Acres, one we would use less than friends and family? What was the motivation behind my flying across the continent for an expensive trip to DC during the busy season of Christmas and end-of-semester grading?
Love. The impulse to spend extravagantly is driven by affection for the one with whom the giver will be together. My husband and I went to South Korea, not to see the DMZ, but to see our daughter. We bought a cabin for our property because we love the people who share the forest with us. Love compelled me to spend $45 an hour to be in DC so I could be together with my son, his wife, and their brand-new baby.
And the motivation for God to become a helpless babe was also love, a love beyond human description. The Creator wanted to be together with His creation, and not just as an individual human, but as the price to restore the chasm between sinful man and His holy God. That baby born on the first Christmas would live “just around the corner” with humans for 33 years, but more importantly, would die to pay the price for the sin that separated them from God.
The words of Ancient Mystery speak of a gift that speaking cannot sufficiently describe. Christmas is a gift-giving time to celebrate the indescribable gift of Jesus. During this season, we ponder, but cannot comprehend or adequately capture in mere words, the extravagance of this gift, when God splurged where it mattered most, to be with the creation He loved.
Living in Mystery
What does it mean to live in the mystery of extravagance and to splurge where it matters? First, it invites us to reflect on the places we put our money. When we splurge, is our money strengthening relationships with people we love? Extravagance, well-spent, brings people together, sometimes through travel but also through the compulsion of love that motivated our gifts.
Second, this mystery of extravagance stirs us to consider where the extravagance of others has mattered in our lives. When and how has someone splurged on us? Have we received their extravagance with gratitude or entitlement? Just as my son thanked me for being with him during the arrival of his first child, our hearts can stir with gratitude when someone’s extravagance has been splurged on us. Living in the mystery of the extravagance of others is to live in gratitude for their generosity and love.
As an old mom to young parents, I suggest you reflect on the sacrifices of your parents as you spend yourselves into the lives of your children. Whatever you do for your children, someone had to do that for you when you were small and helpless. Bringing a child into this world and investing in that child is a gift of tremendous extravagance. Love compelled this, and only love can sustain the ongoing demands of being a parent. Are you running low on what you feel you have available to invest in your children? Remember the love at the start of it all, the love that moved you to have a child, and the love that created and sustained you during your childhood. A person is the most incredible, indescribable gift. Being a parent is a multi-year extravagance of giving into the gift of another person, a baby who grows to be a child, who turns into a teenager, and ultimately an adult. And, if you are really blessed, that act of extravagance on your part will bring another unspeakable wonder into your life, a grandchild.
Most of all, the mystery of extravagance beckons each of us to be more aware of opportunities to invest our money and our time where it matters most. With so many possible ways to spend our money, which forms of splurging really matter? Money is finite, as is time. Extravagant living encourages choices to splurge on people and relationships. Those gifts cannot deteriorate with time or breakdown after their warranties expire. Splurging where it matters will be invested in the durable connections between people, bonds forged through extravagance and driven by love.
Connecting with Mystery
Dear Lord of All Mystery, I confess to being oblivious to the extravagant possibilities in my life. Help me to notice where I can splurge with love into the people who matter to me. Remind me to be grateful, and not complacent, by the extravagant gifts of others. Especially, stir my heart to ponder the way You splurged on me by the first Christmas gift, the baby Jesus. Amen.
Notes from Dr. Mac
If you want to do your own investigation of any of the scriptures I use, I suggest you go to Bible Gateway. This free online version of the Bible allows a search of words or phrases in various translations. I suggest you ponder 2nd Corinthians 9, verse 15 by considering the struggle of translators to capture in words a gift too wonderful to be contained by them.
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