the holidays

(NOTE: this has turned into much more than intended, both context and quantity. read at your own risk.)

it's that time of year again. this same week last year i was walking the streets of Antigua, Guatemala, admiring people, churches, colors, differences. i was speaking Spanish with locals and bartering for Christmas presents. i ate spaghetti for dinner. it was warm and sunny all day and felt absolutely nothing like "Thanksgiving."

a year later, i'm wondering, "what DOES Thanksgiving feel like?" i guess i thought living in Texas again, maybe that "feeling" would come back to me. but instead, the entire Thanksgiving holiday has crept up ever-so-discreetly, practically forgotten about because of the "Christmas-Revolt". it used to feel like something. i used to anticipate it. i used to look forward to it. i guess because it meant seeing my family, enjoying our time together, eating delicious food, and being reminded that Christmas was right around the corner.

but now ... now it's just another day, another month, another year. i think it means i'm getting older. i'm realizing just how fast time is passing me by. i can't believe an entire year has passed. i can't believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. and it certainly doesn't help that EVERY store in the ENTIRE United States (yes, that MIGHT be an exaggeration, but i'm fairly close i'm sure) is all decked out in Christmas, and most were already decorating BEFORE Halloween, for crying out loud!

i'm sorry, but decorating earlier and earlier does NOT help my spirit. if anything, it makes me despise Christmas as a holiday worse and worse each year. i guess i shouldn't get started on this because i'm liable to tick somebody off. but "we" have made every holiday, but especially Christmas, into such a material production that it really turns me off to celebrations or decorations or anything else. i mean, really, why should i put up a tree at my house and listen to Christmas music when EVERYWHERE i go i see and hear the same stuff? i get more than my fill just going to the grocery store. by the time Christmas finally arrives, i've had ENOUGH of blinking lights and Santas and "Jingle Bells."

it used to be SPECIAL. and now it's not. and it just makes me sad. and the more materialistic "we" make it, the more it leaves the TRUE meanings in the dust.

to make a long story long...

Happy Thanksgiving. instead of thinking about all the turkey and stuffing and pumpkin pie you're gonna eat, think about the blessings in your life and thank God for those things. be thankful, and reminded, of the promises of God, and the ULTIMATE blessing He provided.

next month, instead of worrying about what to buy for each member of the family as time quickly passes, forget the materialism of the holiday and focus on THE BIGGER PICTURE ... JESUS CHRIST! He left His perfect home, His perfect Father, and made Himself lower than angels, in order to fulfill the plan of God to SAVE YOUR SORRY SOUL. that's what you should be focused on, every day, but especially during Thanksgiving AND Christmas.

forgive my preaching. i didn't meant to go off like that. i truly believe "each to their own," so if you want to put up your tree and lights before Thanksgiving, go right ahead. if you want to buy each person you know five presents they don't need, that's fine. and if you never think of Jesus even once during this holiday season, that's ok too. i won't hold it against you, and neither will He. :-) all i ask from you is that you try to understand that i just "long for the days of old."