Dear Friends,
Each year I watch in amazement as the huge
marketing machine revs up! I feel like we are at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway and we hear Madison Avenue and retailers across our nation say instead
of "Start your engines." -- "Ladies and Gentleman - Open
you wallets and start your spending!"
People camp out for days to be the first in line
for a HD T.V. We are told that these deals will never come again. We can't
"afford" to pass up the "savings". We are now told
that Thanksgiving family time is going to Best Buy and Target to share together
the joy of Black Friday. (Which now begins on Thursday!)
We seem to be literally selling our nation the
notion of a life of grab-itude not gratitude. Grab it while you
can. Grab it whether you need it or not. Just grab it! Fill your
shopping cart, fill your house, fill your credit card, fill your life with
stuff, stuff, and more stuff.
This may give our economy a seasonal and joyful
boost, but it's not good for us. Not good for our families, for our
souls, for our understanding of thanksgiving and living with gratitude.
A Black Friday way of being will always leave us feeling like something is
lacking, something is missing. We will always feel - "If I just had
"that" (Whatever "that" is.) things would be better."
I'll happier. My kids will be happier. My wife will be happier. Not
true!
I am reminded of the wonderful words of St. Paul
in his letter to the Philippians, "for I have learned to be
content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what
it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of
being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in
need." (Philippians 4:11b-12)
Let us not be hypnotized by the huge marketing
machine, but rather as we live into the fullness of this season let us keep
before us and within us a sense of gratitude and thankfulness. Let keep our
eyes and hearts on the true things that make our lives full. And finally,
let us remember that it's not what we can buy on Black Friday that will make us
whole, it's what was given for us on Good Friday shown to us in the all
encompassing love and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace,
Paul+
Other verses of gratitude:
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians
3:17)
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love
endures forever. (Psalm 136:1)
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