A pastor friend read my manifesto and pointed me to The Advent Conspiracy. This brief video (less than 3 minutes) very poignantly captures the spirit of where I am headed with my manifesto.  It captures much of what I am after in four simple phrases: “Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, Love All”. I highly recommend that you visit their website, Advent Conspiracy, particularly if you are weary of gross commercialism.  To read my 8 point Christmas Manifesto click here.

Today was the first day of Advent and my first day of living The Christmas Manifesto. Here’s a brief update.

I posted the manifesto on my bathroom mirror and read it allowed this morning. I will read it again tonight before I go to bed. I can already tell that the Manifesto is reach going to reach further into my life than I had anticipated.  For example, during our hymns in worship I thought of my intention to carol with “boisterous gusto.” It changed the temperature of my singing. I pumped up the volume and was more engaged in the hymn. That was an unforeseen benefit.  Similarly, when I did a little last minute shopping for my son’s birthday I opted to by a gift that would honor God.  I bought him a book of inspiring Christian stories for teens.  He fell asleep reading it.  That made my heart smile.

I lived out the manifesto more directly in the following ways.  In order to sow seeds of love, hope, joy, and peace, my kids and I selected a tag from a giving tree at our church.  We are going to be buying a beanbag chair requested by a mentally disabled adult living in a nearby home.   I went and scoped out devotional guides available at  a local bookstore in anticipation of getting some as gifts.   I also, did my first day of reading and journaling about Jesus.  Specifically, I read the first chapter of Matthew.  My journaling prompted insights that I know I would not have had otherwise.  So all in all, I feel like I am off to a good start.  I will continue to share learnings from my efforts to live out the manifesto.  I can already tell that my efforts are putting me in a more positive frame of mind.  Blessing to you on your own advent journey.

In tomorrow’s post I will be sharing with you an awesome video from a website that concisely embodies the spirit of what I was hoping for in my manifesto.