Here we are in the peak shopping season of the year. How long is your list?

I’m trying to approach things differently this year, tough as it is in our consumer culture. A few months ago, Reneé and I had a clean-a-thon after our youngest child left for college. We emptied the attic, closets, and garage, gathering up an astounding volume of stuff we no longer needed. Our Prius looked a bit like the Grinch’s fully loaded sleigh as we headed to Goodwill. There were eight cars—perhaps other empty-nesters?—in line ahead of us at the drop-off.

Afterward, we drove on to Costco. Yes, I need more stuff (pants for an upcoming trip). I missed the irony in this until I saw people mobbing the checkout with carts loaded to the brim. Then it hit me: We have things we just don’t need, yet we continue to buy more all the time.

This would be funny if everybody in the world lived in abundance, but—as I know better than most—that’s not the case. Tragically, many have only the clothes on their backs.

How do we cure this insatiable desire for more stuff? I don’t have any magic answers. My family struggles with this as well. Perhaps it begins with reordering our priorities and paying attention to the disparity between us and the “have-nots” in our world—those Jesus called “the least of these.” I sometimes wonder if I should write, “What would Jesus do?” on the inside of my wallet or on the front of my credit cards.

A great alternative at Christmas is the World Vision Gift Catalog. You can honor friends and family by giving things like goats, clothing, fruit trees, and Bibles to the poor. These gifts address “needs” rather than “wants”—and they won’t end up someday at Goodwill. (See how these gifts are used by following the “Spirit of Christmas Tour” on Facebook.)

Have you given through World Vision’s Gift Catalog? What did you choose, for whom, and how was it received?