Thanksgiving...

Yesterday was great (especially the food: turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, mmmm...) but why does getting up super early and running out to some store sound good to people? Especially when it's cold... Although, enough people do it that it makes for quite an experience I'm told (I have never and likely will never go shopping on post Thanksgiving day, unless I have the money to blow on some really cool electronics, in which case I will be at Best Buy early).
But, here's my question: why does Thanksgiving lead to shopping? Who decided that being thankful for God's provision meant being willing to spend a lot of money? I really don't think it's very cool. Thanks should turn into service and ministry, not consumer debt. I understand that a lot of the shopping people do is for Christmas, but that only serves to irk me further. Why do we feel the need to buy TONS of stuff no one really needs to celebrate Christ? It makes no sense! God calls us to two things: love Him, love other people. How is it loving God or other people by wasting the resources God gives us on things of no real value? I suppose I'm merely up on my soapbox ranting and raving about things that make me crazy. Not only that, it's the over simplification of things. I do that a lot. But, I don't like how commercial Christmas has become. Instead of focusing in and doing things simply, we add so much into the holiday that we don't have time to focus at all. By adding things and doing more we fill our holiday with busyness and miss out on the simple beauty that should rend our hearts and tug at our souls.

That is what I am most thankful for though: God kept things simple. He didn't pull out all the stops and go with something bigger, better, and cooler. God didn't do it my way (although it would've been sweet to just pop up in the middle of every city in the world at 70' tall and say in a big booming voice: "Here's my boy. Take care of him or else." while the lightning flashed around my hands..) or the way any of us would've ever dreamt of. So, as we move into the Christmas season remember why we do what we do and what matters most. The reason for it all: God came for you. Simple, huh?

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