Thursday, November 22, 2007
Pre-Black Friday Thoughts
| By Lynn Forgy It is 9 pm as I'm writing this, Thanksgiving evening, only 3 hours to go until the official start of "Black Friday". I am not participating this year in the festivities and chaos that, in my mind, are synonymous with Black Friday. I refuse to get up before the rooster crows and venture out into the 30 degree weather, awaiting the bell that will toll at 5 am in Wal-Mart, signifying the beginning of the snatching and grabbing, shoving and running, snarls and swearing, and general grumpiness. (That was my experience last year, at least in the first half hour of opening, after which most of the shoppers tended to be more calm - perhaps they were sleepwalking). Instead of shopping, and I really would like to go but unfortunately since it is so close to the end of the month I have spent all my hard-earned money on bills and debt, I will be cleaning the house, going to my part-time job for several hours, then driving to a tree farm here in town where I will saw down the Christmas tree and lug it home (for a VERY LOW price of $15). Contentment - a word that doesn't seem to be used very often in our society. We always seem to want more, then when we have obtained whatever we wanted in the first place, we're not content and we want more. Or as the old saying goes, "I don't want all the land, just the land that is next to mine". Being content does not necessarily mean that you do not try to your current situation (your dead end job, your out of control debt, etc.), but that you can accept your situation and you will be happy with little, or happy with a lot - whatever the Good Lord has chosen to give you, you will be content. Dictionary.com defines contentment as "satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else". I do not think it is a contradiction to be "content" with what God has given you, yet still striving and working towards a goal. I certainly do not think that God wants us to be in debt - after all, a debtor is slave to the lender. Concluding this long random rambling, if you are content, satisfied with what you have and who you are, why would you need to spend your hard earned money on more "things"? You don't need to spend $50 on a pair of jeans (you could get the same or similar pair from Goodwill for $4) - why not put that $50 towards your credit card debt? Material objects will not make you content; you may be satisfied for a very short period of time, but you will not be content for long. Labels: contentment, satisfied |
posted by Krista at 9:01 PM
