I did not wake up four hours early to stand in lines to wait for outrageous shopping deals this morning. I did, however, go online to order a new Christmas tree last night, buying it for the Black Friday special price with the option of free shipping or pick up. In fact, I looked at many items online last night that we are considering getting for our kids and I found that most were better priced on places such as Amazon that they were in all of these stores that were having sales. Black Friday just isn't my thing.
The power that is social media has revealed just how truly important Black Friday is to many people. I had scores of Facebook friends who proudly announced their intentions to gorge themselves on shopping starting at midnight with a nice sleep break in between before they headed out again later in the day. Others were content to set their alarms extra early to wait in long lines outside of toy and department stores just to get those special deals on those items that they or their kids just had to have. I spent perhaps 30 minutes online perusing some of the deals that were out there, but failed to make any specific purchase save our new pre-lighted Christmas tree.
Maybe it's because I'm a parent that I see things the way that I do, but it seems that each year the desire to get that special deal on those must have items grows more and more desperate. I just don't get it. Now I'm not trying to be some kind of Christmas Grinch, but I find myself becoming increasingly more disenchanted with the Christmas season with all the emphasis that is placed on consumerism that begins well before Thanksgiving. I want to provide for my children just like the next guy, yet I see the need to scale back on the whole Christmas gift giving phenomenon in favor of some alternate methods of celebrating Christ's birth. By the way, Jesus is the reason that we even observe the occasion of Christmas in the first place.
Without casting aspersions on any of you who eagerly plan and shop for Christmas, I want to encourage you to consider some different ways that you can invest your money into gifts that will last longer than the attention span of a hyper 5 year old. A few years ago my extended family decided to deviate from the traditional exchanging of gifts in favor of giving gifts in honor of each other. For instance, since Kellie and I sponsor a child through World Vision, we give gifts from their gift catalog, such as soccer balls to children in Africa or chickens to a needy family in Asia. When we do that, we get a card to give to our family members that lets them know what was given in their name and to whom. How cool is it to know that children in sub-Sahara Africa have received mosquito nets in your honor?
Finally, let me say to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that I believe there is a great danger in becoming so wrapped up in purchasing all the deals that are out there that we can lose focus in our faith. Sure, as the day of Christmas approaches we all become somber and more observant, yet we too often look like the rest of the masses as we follow the herds from one store to the next. Do we really need all of those things that we buy for each other each and every year? Let me challenge you to prayerfully considering giving gifts that carry with them eternal and gospel-driven value instead of ripping your hair out trying to figure out what to give aunt Myrtle this year.
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