what really matters

Today is the day when I would normally be getting up at an obnoxious hour in order to find a really good deal on a retail item. I scanned the ads, visited the blackfriday.com web site, and even was making some preliminary plans to go take advantage of Circuit City's prices on DVDs.

Instead... I've opted to take a pass.

We aren't against it, so if this was in your plans I hope your experience is/was healthy. We're just finding that some other things are a bit more important for us this year, not to mention a value of simplicity that we've really been in tune with. I'd like to think that a few extra bucks in our bank account wouldn't change that value, so this is more a practice of sacrifice than it is anything against buying gifts for Christmas.

Granted, materialism is an issue our culture does struggle with. It tends to breathe within us a spirit of expectation and entitlement that makes us critical and insecure. Nothing is ever enough, since there is always one more thing to buy.

On the other hand, humility can be taken to an arrogant extreme, too. True humility is not thinking less of ourselves... it's about thinking of ourselves less. It's about seeing ourselves for who we really are - nothing more, nothing less. I'd like to think I'm erroring on this definition versus any pious idea of judgment.

So again... I hope you had fun shopping or sleeping - whichever you prefer. Yet if I can throw out one encouragement this shopping season it would be to just slow down with those you love, play a lot of board games, talk about things in the deep and shallow ends of the philosophical pool, and enjoy the blessing of what really matters.