Rebel against the Insanity

By Peter Lundell –

A seismic drift happening for decades in America seems to be crossing a line we may never cross back.

At Thanksgiving we now tend to see, hear, and read less about Thanksgiving than ever before. Instead we endlessly see, hear, and read about Black Friday. Which has now invaded Thursday.

Retailers are tapping sources of money, the reason they exist. Yet last year countless people, better defined as consumers, complained—complained!—that 6 a.m. or even midnight wasn’t early enough to open the stores.

On the surface Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to be about religion or morality, it’s just about being thankful. But deep down it reveals our beliefs and moral values, what’s important to us, to whom we submit our lives. And for decades materialism is the god who’s been winning. It seems this idol has led masses across a threshold.

Hours after the richest nation on earth is supposedly pausing to be thankful, its citizens trounce each other to grab more stuff on sale. Who has time to be thankful? We have sales to find, and we research and map a strategy beforehand to make sure we win. Thereby we find purpose and create meaning by the new possessions we bag and the percentage-off we count.

I am not against battling crowds for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving—or even online on “Cyber Monday.” Go ahead. But when it eclipses thankfulness, we have a problem.

To a huge part of the populace, Thanksgiving has become only a pretext for bargain hunting. I encourage you to rebel against the insanity. Even if you shop on Black Friday, make a point to leave Thursday alone. And be thankful, even now.

“Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes” (Proverbs 27:20 NIV).

“Lord, in the midst of crowds who clamor for more stuff and won’t take time to be thankful for what they have, keep my heart right. I choose to be satisfied with what I have, and thankful for it. When I hunt for bargains, I choose to keep it secondary to honoring You and living right.”