I told my daughter that I use to love this time of year. It was when the family got together to celebrate something special. The weather got colder and it felt like Christmas, but anymore it does not. It just seemed like things were so much simpler back in the 60’s and 70’s. Maybe they were not, but it sure seemed like it.
I know that as I have gotten older, I have become more cynical. I see people as mostly rude and obnoxious. My wife does not 100% agree, and she sees people more as being so focused on their life that they cannot see what is really happening around them and they appear to be rude. I typically counter with if that is true, then why are people so willing to hurt others for some stuff that is on sale? People are willing to literally stomp on anyone that gets in their way of getting that item that is on sale they really want. It is as though there is complete Chaos especially on Black Friday.
Christmas when I was growing up was about the celebration of Jesus’s birth and spending time together as a family as I have already stated. While it is wildly believed He was not born in December, it was decided by people long ago to use this time of the year to celebrate His birthday.
Somewhere along the way, that all changed. It is no longer about celebrating the birth of Christ, but rather about purchasing stuff that is on sale. Retail stores have no one to blame for their failures than themselves. Sure they may make a lot of money on Black Friday, but are they really going from the “Red” to “Black”. Also, as we all know, having those items is far more important than your salvation.
I have titled this particular post as “Retail Deception”, and in my opinion it is true. Retail companies are about making money anyway they can within legal limits. Target had a commercial that said something like 20% off everything, but then you dig into it and it does not mean everything. Michaels’ had 30% off everything including sale items, but that to was not true as there is a list of items that is not included, but then that contradicts everything. Old Navy had 50% off specific clothing, but that also was not true, it was off select styles only, but the print was pretty small that it could easily be missed.
It seems like world is all about deception from big business all the way down to our everyday life. Believe it or not, it seems like it gets worse each year. Big business lies about their earnings because they are being deceptive in how they are reporting things to make it appear as though they are more successful than they really are to drive stock prices up. They are trying to deceive the customer into purchasing items that are not on sale. All for that glorious god called money. If they would just use some Christian values, I honestly believe that their business would be more successful than ever.
Money is important, but it is not the only thing. Yes you need it to for food, clothing, and shelter, but somewhere along the way we have decided that it is the most important thing in our life. I will state this as I have stated in another post, money cannot buy happiness, but people seem to think it can. Yes, it can relieve some stress, but it creates others.
This Christmas, you have a choice. You can just throw your money away on stuff you really do not need all in the name of purchasing stuff on sale or you can choose to show these companies that Christmas is about more than materialism. God will not force you to decide, but do you think God would be happy with that PS4 system you just purchased or would He be more happy that you decided to sacrifice that gaming system to help your neighbor? I pray that you make the right choices, but believe me it will not be easy.