Black Friday Reprieve

Black Friday Shop Till You Drop!  

I have literally done this--hit the malls early and gone through the day until I fell down drunk from drinking it all in.  Really--I jockeyed for parking places, had my list for specific deals, and did my hit and run--well, walk and crawl that is.  I guess there is something for just getting out there to say you did it.  Now I have tried to do Black Friday on the web.  There are deals to be had.  It was at that time of my life that I saw the world as the challenge.

Now I just wonder and think to myself.  What if I took Thanksgiving and its days for solely rest--or should I say "soul rest?"  Contrast the picture above with the one below.  Who is getting the better deal?  Where would you rather be? 

Now that is quite the contrast!  But you get the point.  You goes back to Wordsworth--

"Getting and spending we lay waste our powers...."

(or maybe our souls....)  

It would be nice if we could book time away to the mountains.  The contrast is to say--feed your souls by what you become a part of, not by what you buy and consume--even on a sale.  Now look at the next picture.  What is this man connected with....himself? God?  A connection of the soul and God?

 The Psalmist has said that we become what we are connected to--what we set before our lives.  The biggest contrast in these pictures is Black Friday we immerse ourselves in things--and become a thing ourselves.  Then again, there is Good Friday in which we realize that matters is who we die for, give our  lives to.  Maybe the Psalmist had something in 16:8--"I have set the Lord always before me"  and  "He is my portion and my cup." 

When we count our many blessings;
 it isn't hard to see
that life's most valued treasures
are the treasures that are free.
For it isn't what we own or buy
 that signifies our wealth.
It's the special gifts that have no price;
 our family, friends and health.

Author Unknown