Black Friday

Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.

(Facebook Quote)

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Matthew 6:28-29 (KJV)

 

On Thursday we will try to express gratitude for the many things with which we have been blessed. Most of us will mention food, family, and freedom. We will stop to remember, hopefully, our men and women in uniform far away from their families, some of whom gave their all and will not sit down on this earth to a family Thanksgiving again. We will include home and hearth in our appreciation. We will remember those less fortunate than we are, and some of us will give our time to make sure others have something pleasant to remember at the end of that day. We will remember God’s love and grace in the person of Jesus Christ.

Then.  .  .  on the following day, many of us will act like none of this ever happened. We will gripe and complain about long lines, about prices for the “must have” items. We will remember those who did not express the appropriate appreciation for their gift(s) from years past. We may spend money we don’t really have because we feel that some shiny trinket is what is really needed to convince our child, our spouse, our parent, our boss, our co-worker, or our friend that we really care about them. Some of us will try to make up for the apathy and uncaringness we have exhibited all year long. In short, we do indeed forget that less than 24 hours earlier we thanked our creator that we had everything we could possibly ever need.

 How do we remedy this situation? Is the answer to throw out all our Christmas lists, take down our ornaments, turn off our lights, and turn into Scrooge? Absolutely not! Maybe it is as simple as allowing Thanksgiving to last a few days before we start our shopping. Probably, we would enjoy Christmas more if we took a memory of that Thanksgiving list with us instead of our gift wish list through the holiday season. When we get stressed we could take it out and look at it and be reminded about just how wonderful so much of our life can be.

 

Pastor Craig