My views on this have changed drastically over the last few years. I want to make that fact perfectly clear. Going off shopping for whatever it was that I "thought" I needed and could get at a great price on, is something I should be a part of. I mean, everyone else was doing it ... right ?!
A few years back, I took a really hard look at this day that is dubbed "Black Friday" only to find that what goes on in most areas is an intense amount of greed. Is it really that important to "save a buck" when you then turn around and spend that extra buck to fill your gas tanks, pay for more stuff that you really DON'T need or pay for something that is really unnecessary ?
If Thanksgiving is a day set aside for us to truly be Thankful, why is it then, only hours after being so thankful, people will trample each other for material items !? Thanksgiving has absolutely no meaning, the basis of it's origin no longer exists and the fact that the time between Halloween and Christmas is some huge shopping spree anymore, should say something to you. If you are like me and each holiday has a specific purpose ... wouldn't it come to meaning that just going out to buy stuff, on this day of any day, is a way most people today celebrate a holiday for someone they do not believe even exists ?
In the world today there are people who do good, don't get me wrong, but we don't get into heaven by good works alone. Today, far different of myself years back, I cannot fathom that I waste/ save a dollar to the almighty corporate man on a day such as this. When I spend money today after being through what we have been through the last few years I have to seriously think , Do I really need this? How and will this thing really benefit my life, someone Else's life, whether I do or don't buy it ? I KNOW someone out there in the would just love to have that dollar I am spending on things I do not need, to save their house, buy food or get medical help. Even in the United States, a country supposed to be so wealthy ... it is in the cracks that people are left without help and supposedly invisible.
I am not here to say if you spend money today or any day for that matter, you are some evil form of capitalism, but looking back I can tell you where it got me when I thought the way most do. When I went along with the crowd to do what was the "cool" thing, just because everyone else was doing it. I certainly had my day ... we've lived outside of both NYC and Chicago through the years and going shopping for me and my oldest two was our tradition in the city. I noticed through the years though, that the message I was really sending was one more about the stuff, rather than the people.
The Bible says in:
- Matthew 6:19
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, where thieves break in and steal.
Matthew 6:18-20 (in Context) Matthew 6 (Whole Chapter) - Matthew 6:20
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6:19-21 (in Context) Matthew 6 (Whole Chapter) - Matthew 6:26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Matthew 6:25-27 (in Context) - Luke 12:24
Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds!
If therefore, we have just celebrated being truly thankful for what it is we are supposed to already have and then after, Christmas being based on the BIRTH of Christ, why is it so many people feel the need to buy, buy, buy STUFF... Material goods and things that are soon forgotten ? A few months later.. the toy (or item) you just HAD to save that dollar on, ends up in your garage sale and years down the road, your kids never remember the many little specifics anyway.
In asking my three oldest the things they remembered about the times I had Christmas morning "perfect" (someones image of it anyway) with toys all under the tree that filled the room, lights sparkling, bows a glittering and a whole entire day spent taking things out of packages and unknotting things sewn to cardboard, they would tell you it was not the stuff they remembered; It was the TIME we spent together that mattered. The funny thing though that hit me at that time, is that TIME itself, is the one thing that money cannot buy nor replace. Once the children are grown you cannot get those times back. They have already learned through you, that by your wanting the stuff, your time and effort went into "things" means more than them. Perpetually speaking then only creates more people with the same attitude. People who have learned that stuff now matters far more than people, so the cycle repeats itself.
Never had I taken the time to actually sit and think then, what it was I was really, honestly doing. To be honest; if someone had told me, I most likely would not have taken the time to listen. I was more tuned into the consumerism than into my own family and it drove me to be just as everyone else was being. My world was full of "Stuff". Things boughten for people to "like" us, things I thought would impress others, just THINGS, that now ... actually, are more than likely not even in our house anymore !
Why was it at that time so important for me to make my life seem so full of material possessions to impress others that didn't like me, and never would, surround myself with those I didn't even want to be like and fill my world with things I had thought made me happy ? Surely my family liked me .. I mean, what. .. would they think of me, dare I not buy them some 300 dollar video game system ? The namiest, name brand clothing, highest priced shoes or enough toys to fill Toys R Us ?? Surely they would hate me if I chose not to do so, by far my kids not fitting in, in the neighborhood or in school because they don't have the cool stuff would be so hard for me to accept, (let alone them) that the mere thought made me cringe. If Uncle 'so and so' out beat me with a gift, how could I dare show my own face ?
Let us realize, Relationships are earned ... NOT bought. Time is free a huge gift and blessing we are given, that we all too soon quickly forget we even have ! The people in our lives should be put first before the items. Saving a dollar or two in the end will make mo difference what so ever. The fact that your kids don't have the newest and coolest toy doesn't really mean anything.
We choose purposely not to go out on Black Friday anymore, because it has turned into Green Friday. Greed drives the car and runs it into the ditch. Stuff becomes more important than people and no longer do gifts really have a deep rooted meaning.
We don't observe the holidays to be fancy or out do anyone anymore. In fact most know that I dislike this time of year basically because of what it has turned into, rather than what it truly is about. We choose now to do a gift exchange that really makes one think about the person they are to buy for. Take TIME to get to know them, their likes or dislikes, their feelings and attitudes toward things. We don't want the "gift" to be any less that what it actually is. A true gift, like a true friend, will always remain. Something thought out or homemade says a lot more to me about a persons true character than some item you are giving to buy someone off or get their attention without really having meaning.
We can now look forward to the holidays more so with less stress than ever before. Knowing we don't have to get this or buy that, has made it so much nicer for us. Just knowing someone would rather spend time with one another IS such a gift, Such a blessing ! Best of all it doesn't cost any money and it says alot about you at the same time it teaches our Little's alot more about life than we think.
I have never been one to follow someone else, I follow my own pattern and my own goals, so naturally it was just something in time I would have to do. That is after all, what makes me, me. So in being the best ME that I can be, I wanted to make sure that what I was sending out was what I wanted back in return. I could not say one thing and yet do another. Being hypocritical is a form of lying, even more so to your own self. I knew this was something for us we HAD to do. I could not let my children be focused any more about who owned what, how much was spent on it or saving a dollar that bad that they in fact spent it when they really ... honestly, didn't have to.
If nothing else comes from our decision to change, maybe just one other will change, passing on that change and the world can stop being so materially focused. When time goes by all to quickly and we lie there at the end of our life, what is all this "Stuff" here, really going to matter ? We cannot take with us what we have on earth, as the passage says above. However we all have been given blessings that everyday we no longer see.
It is very much like a mosaic, you can't see the minute details until you step back and realize that all the little pictures have created one big picture. You have created a story by the time God calls you home. What will your story be ? What will be your purpose ? Where is it that your money really goes when you spend it on this day (or any really) anyway ? Where could it be (or have been) of better use ? What will you remember more ? Please think on these things. Please remember to take the time to celebrate the true meaning of the season and not just to buy or own some new item. Someday the time that you cannot buy, will be something you will look back and wish that you could.
Tammie
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