Five Holiday Shopping Alternatives: Giving With Purpose

Looking for something different? 

Want to give with purpose? 

Sick and tired of the malls, the crowds, the frenzy? 

Try one or more of these alternatives.

Compassion International
Gifts that change lives

All gifts in the catalog are great for year-round giving as well as for Christmas. Consider donating a gift in honor of a friend or family member for a birthday, anniversary, graduation, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Grandparents Day — and we offer special Honor Cards to commemorate gifts for many occasions throughout the year. To learn more, go to: compassion.com/catalog.htm

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Heifer International
The Most Important Gift Catalog In The World

Choose a meaningful gift to give a loved one and help children and families around the world receive training and animal gifts that help them become self-reliant. Honor your loved ones with a free card from Heifer with every donation. To learn more, go to: heifer.org/gift-catalog/index.html 

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Oxfam America Unwrapped
Gifts that give back

Oxfam America is a global organization working to right the wrongs of poverty, hunger, and injustice. As one of 17 members of the international Oxfam confederation, we work with people in more than 90 countries to create lasting solutions. Oxfam saves lives, develops long-term solutions to poverty, and campaigns for social change. To learn more, go to oxfamamerica.org.

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Ten Thousand Villages

Fair Trade Retailer Since 1946

More than 60 years ago Edna Ruth Byler, a pioneering businesswoman, began selling handcrafted products from Puerto Rico out of the trunk of her car to help eradicate poverty. Today a global network of social entrepreneurs works to empower artisans in developing countries. To learn more, go to tenthousandvillages.com/

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UNICEF
Every Gift You Purchase Helps Save Children's Lives

UNICEF Market offers beautifully crafted items, including gifts and cards, with part of the proceeds going to talented artisans and to help UNICEF save and protect children. To learn more, go to: market.unicefusa.org/

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A couple of notes...

For friends outside the USA, the links provided here are for shopping and delivery with the United States. However, all of these are international organizations. Many have links to sites designed for your country. If you have suggestions about how I can make that easier, please leave a comment.

Did I miss a good one? Post a comment with your suggestion. If it is in keeping with the theme, I'll update the list!

5 Minute Reflection #14.10: Jargon, Brand Names And The Obfuscation of The Important

The letters and words of our language can be arranged in countless combinations. In spite of that theoretical possibility, sometimes words are re-used in surprising ways and abbreviations and acronyms mean different things in different contexts. Sometimes, in our Orwellian technologically immersive culture, we approach the limits of language to say what we mean without extra effort to establish context, especially where technical jargon, brand names and other usage patterns reinvent words and reshape their meanings.

Case in point: Microsoft Office - Project. While having lunch, I noticed something about MS-Project on the TV in the restaurant. Really? Microsoft is running a commercial for their project management software? That seems awfully expensive for a niche title. They rarely run commercials for the common MS-Office titles like MS-Word or MS-Excel. 

I looked more closely. The graphic on the TV referred to The MS Project, not MS-Project. The MS Project is a collection of things created to raise awareness about something really important - Multiple Sclerosis. Consisting of a book, a website, apparel, and an iPhone app these elements are bringing renewed attention to this serious disease, educating people, and creating community among its sufferers, their families and others. 

How inconsequential does MS-Project seem by comparison to The MS-Project? For more information visit, The MS Project on the web. (http://themsproject.com) In the meantime, I'll try to be more careful and not let important things elude my attention just because they sound like something else.

When #tech makes it easy peasy lemon squeezy

If you're immersed in technology as many of us are, with smartphones, smart TVs, smart meters, tablets, laptops, desktops, fitness bracelets and ubiquitous connectivity, you probably have days when none of it seems to work as it should. The effort required to get it to work as you need it to seems like a very poor investment. You just want to through it all in the street and drive over it repeatedly with your pickup truck.

On the other hand, there are days when all of this works harmoniously in a symphony of orchestrated people, processes and technologies to accomplish tasks large and small. The other evening I was finishing a client presentation and printed a few paper copies to bring to the meeting the next day. From my laptop somewhere downstairs, I sent the job to my printer somewhere upstairs. While the printer was doing what printers do, it sent an alert to my laptop that the yellow ink was low - not empty, just low. It even sent me a link to the manufacturer's web site where I could order more yellow ink. I followed the link and checked the price. Then, with a quick copy and paste of the part number, I checked the price for the same item on Amazon.com where it was offered for about 10% less. Thanks to my Amazon Prime membership, two-day shipping was free. I hit the "Buy Now with 1-click" button and that was that, in less than a minute.

Two days later, my yellow ink cartridge arrived at the front door. That's how all of this stuff is supposed to work. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

5 Minute Reflection #14.09: Blessed Are The Cool Kids

The cool kids at NBC Chicago Channel 5 TV

Who are the "cool kids"?

The Cool Kids is an alternative hip hop duo, composed of rappers Antoine "Sir Michael Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll. 

In high school, the cool kids are the leading athletes, the leading scholars (sometimes) , the prom king and queen and their entourages. They have the teacher's ear. At work, the cool kids have the boss's ear. At church, the cool kids have the pastor's ear. 

The cool kids are the movie stars, the professional athletes, the TV personalities and the hot shot entrepreneurs.

The cool kids are also the teenager who delivers your pizza, the mother of three working the midnight shift at the oatmeal factory, the fellow who dries your windows at the car wash, the soldier, the sailor, the police officer and the flight attendant.The cool kids are everywhere. They serve their country, their families, and you. The cool kids are also the woman at the well, the widow with only pennies to her name, the men on the bridges over the Chicago River, dependent on the generosity of strangers. 

The cool kids are those who serve, those who have served but can no longer serve and those who never could but wanted to.

If we could ask Jesus, "Who are the cool kids"" he might say,

The cool kids are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

The cool kids are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 

The cool kids are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 

The cool kids are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 

The cool kids are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 

The cool kids are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 

The cool kids are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God. 

The cool kids are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 

The cool kids are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

5 Minute Reflection #14.08: Change a life in 5 minutes or less

Has a friend or family member ever passed away or left your life permanently in some other way before you had the opportunity or the courage to say something important - something that you now wish you would have said? It happens to all of us. 

I'm not talking about things you think you should have said to make yourself feel better, to vent some anger, or for other negative or self-serving purpose. I'm talking about the short, affirming conversations that can positively change another person's perspective, maybe even alter the trajectory of their life. 

I will be forever grateful for a friend who in about fifteen words and less than ten seconds changed the way I think about my voice, my right to speak up and my self-confidence.

Is there anything like that remaining unsaid between you and a friend, a family member, or anybody else who values your opinion? Think about it. There's probably somebody you should call tomorrow. Maybe there's more than one. Maybe you have a whole list. Spend five minutes right now thinking about it. Then make an appointment with yourself to initiate that conversation. Your investment of five minutes might change a life. Do not delay.

5 Minute Reflection #14.07: Faith, unmasked

Every day for the last few months I have posted an affirmation of faith via Facebook and Twitter. For the first several weeks it read like, "This day is a gift from God. Let me live like I believe it." In more recent weeks the affirmation contains a tiny but significant difference, "This day is a gift from God. Let me love like I believe it." This shift is simply an acknowledgement of the first and greatest commandments, "Love God. Love Others."

You might ask, how sincere can these affirmations be? Is it really possible to live and love consistently and with such a spirit of gratitude day in and day out? Could these sayings be a sort of mask? Could I be hiding my doubts and uncertainties?

Here's how this works. Of course I have doubts and uncertainties from time to time. No thinking person of faith has no doubts. No honest, thinking person of faith should claim to have no doubts. That would be a mask. Billy Graham has said, "“Doubts are a normal part of life. We doubt things on earth, so its easy to doubt things of God.” In fact, doubts are necessary to the definition of faith. Logically, if we can prove something beyond all doubt, faith is unnecessary. So faith is a choice, a decision that what is believed and hoped for is more compelling and of greater value than the alternative presented by doubt.

Lee Strobel says, “For many Christians, merely having doubts of any kind can be scary. They wonder whether their questions disqualify them being a follower of Christ. They feel insecure because they’re not sure whether it’s permissible to express uncertainty about God, Jesus, or the Bible." What happens when we give in to that fear and put on the "no doubts" mask? Strobel says, "they keep their questions to themselves and inside, unanswered." Their unanswered questions "grow and fester . . . until they eventually succeed in choking out their faith.”

There it is. No masks. No pretending that I never, ever have any doubts. Even so, I choose faith and I choose to affirm it every day.

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1 NIV)

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A useful although relatively inactive site about dealing with doubt is here: Dealing With Doubt

"This day is a gift from God. Let me live like I believe it."  is borrowed from Mark Elfstrand, former host of The Morning Ride on WMBI-FM. Mark used to sign off every morning saying ""This day is a gift from God. Let's live like we believe it." You can find Mark's blog here: The Way WE Work

5 Minute Reflection #14.06: Do you think God sits in a box seat?

All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone. - Blaise Pascal “And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace." (Matthew 6:5-6 The Message)  What if you spent some time alone with God today?