Crazy crowds–No thank you!
We live in the land of the “free to work hard and free to shop”.
Most of us have much more than we need. The extra food we threw away at Thanksgiving is more than some have all week.
But unless you have travelled extensively in a third world country, it’s easy to take for granted the things you have– like clean drinking water and four secure walls around you.
If we make more than thirty-four thousand dollars a year –we are in the top one percent of wage earners in the world.
So why do we always think we need more? We try to keep up with the Joneses, (whoever they are), or we get enticed by the new and shiny, deciding it’s a must have.
This time of year we fall prey to the siren’s call of “Come early and get all your heart’s desires for bargain prices.”
I usually avoid Black Friday shopping. I certainly would never do the wee hours of the morning or wait in line for days thing. I don’t want anything that badly.
But this year was somewhat different. The guys smartly avoided all shopping and played golf, so it was the perfect time to shop for Christmas with my daughter-in-laws.
I can’t tell you how much I love shopping with my girls. Being the mom of boys, I enjoy every minute of the fashion show they put on for me.
We were braced for horrendous crowds at the outlet mall, but we must have waited so late that the first rush of shoppers were already gone.
We had virtually no lines to wait in, or masses of humanity to weave through. The early-bird shoppers were already done, probably home taking a nap.
For some reason people seem to forget their humanity on this one day, they become someone they usually aren’t.
Or is the truth that the person they really are comes out? Is it just hidden most of the time?
In a major toy store, people were sneaking into the back, raiding the shelves, and opening crates in the storeroom looking for merchandise not on the shelves.
Others, instead of waiting for hours with the rest of the patient shoppers, blatantly cheated by sneaking in side doors moments before the main door opened. They nabbed electronic bargains before the main crowd could get there, leaving some who had been there for hours empty-handed.
Ladies, (I use the term loosely) were escorted out of the store by security for punching each other while vying for a coveted toy.
I once heard this– Black Friday: Only in America people trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.
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Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
-What makes you get your wants and needs mixed up?
-Make a list to remind you of what you really need.