I woke up this morning and realized this is October 1st. Go figure! Here we are in the start of another holiday season. (Let’s change that to Christmas season.) Now starts the month long barrage of horror movies, jack-o-lanterns, scare-fests, and home decorating where it looks like something exploded all over the yard. Followed by non-stop Christmas carols, trees, another set of yard decorations, and gifts out the wazoo. Oh! and two or three days back at the end of November where we say we are thankful for stuff, and then stop to over-stuff ourselves on one day with a big bird and enough sides to feed a small army and then go back for leftovers the next day. Then, we go back to thinking about Christmas for another month and continue to search for the perfect gift for everyone while the bank account is going into overdraft and then we see something we want that is on sale and add that into the pile that’s already under the tree.
Do you feel the spirit yet? Ho, ho, ho! We have morphed this season into three months of go, go, go! NO, NO, NO! Say it ain’t so! It’s here again? Already? Seems like we just unwrapped the last gift yesterday.
In four generations my family has gone from my mom and dad’s families only getting nuts and oranges in a sock above the fireplace (and really being able to appreciate that), to my parents giving us maybe one toy and some clothes, to us giving our kids a whole lot of toys under the tree plus clothes, to now kids getting very expensive, usually multiple toys plus clothes. Toys getting played with maybe a couple weeks and then they are broken and can’t wait for next year.
Where is it all going to end? Probably won’t, we are hooked. We have effectively brainwashed ourselves into thinking we NEED all these things to make us happy, and to make our kids and grandkids happy. The more we give the happier we will be. It does make the giver feel good, doesn’t it. Look what it has done to the next generations though. (Including ourselves.) We are brats that want what we want and we want it now!
Walking through the valley of giant skeletons at the local hardware superstore, stop to think for a moment: here begins the rush. Is it worth it? This super emphasis on Halloween that we have gotten into has made it a real come down to even think about Thanksgiving. Then after the adrenaline rush of Halloween, we are so tired that when it is time for Thanksgiving we are all worn out and Thanksgiving gets us so frazzled we are already too tired to think about the meaning of Christmas so the major thing we are zeroing in on is putting up all the gawdy (er, excuse me, beautiful) decorations and all the presents that have to be bought.
Where is Christ in all of this? Oh, we do go to the annual Christmas Nativity pageant to make ourselves feel good and to think about Christ for an hour. Do you really think about Christ for even that hour or are you thinking about how cute it is for those little children to come out in that robe and the little angel over there has the robe up over her head?
Let’s face it. We don’t stop long enough to actually dwell on the reason for the season, we have been lulled into a grind that is so devastating that it drives us crazy for three months out of the year and we wish that time would slow down so we wouldn’t have to face it as quickly next time.
This year, stop! Slow down. Take a little time to talk to God. He is the one that put you here. He is the one that gives you all the blessings that you should be thankful for on Thanksgiving. The world has taken Halloween and made it such a major thing that we are so exhausted for the next couple months that Thanksgiving and Christmas are both just another holiday.
How are you going to find God in all of this? Again, stop, slow down, sit down and get quiet, and then talk to God on His terms; not yours! Do not look for God in all the turmoil going on around you; just be still and wait.
“…And as Elijah stood there, the LORD passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:11b-13 (NLT)
~AE
