What are we celebrating this Thursday? Are we taking a day off to be with family and
friends to express gratitude to our Father in Heaven for the many blessings and
tender mercies provided us; our ‘cornucopia’ of clothing to wear, a roof over our heads, food
enough to survive and even share or have we altered our focus toward something
else?
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia/ By Peter Paul Rubens -
6QEwQbRo8rzs5A at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21897457)
You got it; Black Friday and huge sales events that are
begging people to forget being thankful for what they have and move onward to what
they might obtain if they time it just right; taking folks away from the dinner
table to their computers or out to the shopping malls.
Watching television commercials, supposedly geared to
Thanksgiving Day, timed messages that instead have little if anything to do
with our intent to honor God for having shed His many blessings down upon us
throughout the year. No, the trend is to
eat a quick meal, making sure to be done by two o’clock in the afternoon so you
can race down to the local department store where millions of others will be
taking advantage of spectacular pricing on items you can’t live without. You don’t even have to leave the house as
most Internet sales promise to match and includes free shipping.
How much money was spent on Black Friday in 2016?
“Shoppers spent $1.9
billion online on Thanksgiving Day and another $3.3 billion on Friday,
according to Adobe.”
An article by Kimberly Amadeo
“Black Friday is November 24,
2017, the day after Thanksgiving. It’s traditionally the busiest shopping day
of the year because it kicks off the holiday season. This season is
crucial for the economy because around 30 percent of annual retail sales
occur between Black Friday and Christmas. For some
retailers, such as jewelers, it’s even higher -- nearly 40 percent.”
It’s been this way for many
years; but can you imagine the pressure put on retailers as they recognize that
this one month, calculated from the day before Thanksgiving, determines whether
or not they will be in business the next year?
Far too many have become members
of the ‘Church of
Black Friday’, having
bowed down to their god of prosperity and once in a life time deals, their
golden calf if you will.
Wouldn’t it be better to give thanks
to God and take the day off with family as a way to open the door for other
blessings; blessings which often include prosperity and timely help from above
as each day’s challenges are somehow met successfully?
This article has been cross posted to The Self Educated American, a
publication whose banner reads, “Standing Fast By the Judeo-Christian Heritage,
Limited Government and the U.S.
Constitution”.
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