Black Friday
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when people search for sales to buy their Christmas gifts (and maybe a few things for themselves).
It was the same general idea 40 years ago, but the offering of sale items was different. It used to be that time was taken during the preparation of the Thanksgiving meal to look through the paper ads that came with the daily paper. Since there was only one paper, we had to share the ads.
One year, early in my marriage, I saw an electronic retailer ad offering something that I thought I needed. At that time, the really good sales might include a disclaimer such as “at least one per store”. This was the hint to be there early, or they wouldn’t have the item later. I decided to get up at 4 am (not much of a problem for me since I’m an early morning person) and go and wait for them to open at 6 or 7am. My wife didn’t want to go but my mother-in-law said that she’d go with me.
By the time we got to the store, it was just before 5 am and there was already a line all around the electronic store. It was cold. We waited. Finally, finally, they opened the doors for us. I went in with a mad rush of people. The “at least 1 per store” item I was after was gone by the minutes it took me (and I’d guess 50-100 fellow crazies) to get in. That was the last time I prioritized shopping on Black Friday.
Now, of course, it’s completely different. Emails and online ads have taken the paper ad place. The “at least one per store” concept was abandoned, mostly, after a few news reports of people getting trampled in the mad rush to secure these items. Finally, the concept of a single day of sales has, for the most part, morphed into a weekend or a week or a month of sales as retailers compete for sales online. Since I don’t like to shop anyway, I rarely, of my own volition, go shopping at a physical store (except for groceries) anymore.
So, starting on Thanksgiving Day and into yesterday, my wife and extended family were comparing and contrasting online sales items they found. I’d occasionally get asked a question like “do I need any new underwear?” My objective was to get through the hundreds of emails so I could get back to cooking (or collapse after said cooking was done). Don’t get me wrong, I can be a crass consumer at times but not the last couple of days.
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.” - Malachi 3:6-12 ESV
Getting gifts for loved ones is fine as long as it doesn’t take your attention away from God. So many seemingly innocent things are really snares laid to distract you from what is truly important in life.
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” - Numbers 6:24-26
Isn’t this far more important than any gizmo from a Best electronic store?
