What\u2019s better than getting up at 4 am on Black Friday to fight the crowds and strategically rifle through a well-thought out plan of attack documented only by a string of newspaper ads marked in Sharpie and ordered by store opening times?<\/p>\n
Almost anything.<\/p>\n
Anything is better than that.<\/p>\n
Still, that was today for my bride and I as the kiddos slept in at Grandmas. We spent a small fortune (as opposed to the large fortune it could have been) and got about 90% of what we hunted.<\/p>\n
We dominated Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target Mart and Home Depot Mart and even squeezed in a romantic breakfast for two at IHOP Mart.<\/p>\n
While we were wolfing down some pancakes (actually, I was wolfing\u2026 Kathy never wolfs\u2026 she delicately cuts, slowly eats and cutely chews\u2026 she never wolfs) we were discussing how crazy some people were.<\/p>\n
Every year we see stories on the news about how two soccer moms nearly clubbed each other to death with a Christmas ham and an extra value pack of jumbo wrapping paper at a discount store over some Tickle Me Elmo.<\/p>\n
Oh, pardon me. This year it\u2019s a robot hamster. My bad.<\/p>\n
So over breakfast we recounted tales of inappropriate human behavior.<\/p>\n
I shared how the wicked witch of Wal-Mart put a hex on me for not having an ESP-like knowledge of her desire to purchase a card table and chairs. \u201cThere are only twelve of these and 16 of us have been waiting longer than you!\u201d<\/p>\n
And a happy 4:45 am to you too, my dear.<\/p>\n
I wanted to respond, \u201cYeah, but I\u2019m bigger than you, so, if you don\u2019t want a broken nose, I\u2019d head over to Target before I get done here and move over there to take more stuff away from you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, I opted for, \u201cOh, I\u2019m sorry.\u201d (You can envision me meekly pushing my cart away, just like the Apostle Peter would have if he were hitting Black Friday\u2026 aren\u2019t you proud?)<\/p>\n
I crammed some pancake in my mouth, with sugar free syrup cause that makes it all better, and let Kathy recount what happened on her end of the store.<\/p>\n
With those \u201cyou\u2019re never going to believe this\u201d eyes, she started in: \u201cI was lined up to get this oversized doll for your niece right next to this woman, and just before 5 when they released us, her husband started coaching her. He was saying, \u2018Elbows, baby. Use your elbows.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, I have to tell you.<\/p>\n
You really shouldn\u2019t mess with Kathy. One of her favorite expressions for talking about difficult people is, \u201cOh, they better be glad I\u2019m not married to them. He\u2019d been buried in a shallow grave in the back yard years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
I always laugh, but when we fight\u2026 I sleep with one eye open.<\/p>\n
All kidding aside, she got through her episode with the Karate Girl and Kansas Miyagi with her witness intact.<\/p>\n
She rocks.<\/p>\n
I pushed away from the breakfast table with a full belly and with more than just a little haughtiness that we didn\u2019t act like those animals that were shopping with us.<\/p>\n
A little later in the day, after the shopping was starting to fade into memory I had to put on a suit and go perform a small wedding at the church.<\/p>\n
When all was said and done and I was making an exit from the building as the last guy there, which happens a lot, something very quiet, yet illuminating happened.<\/p>\n
I turned off a light only to see the warm glow of a room at the other end of the hall in the opposite direction I was heading.<\/p>\n
I ignored it and hit the next light on my route out and saw another room aglow just a few steps away. This time I walked over and turned it off.<\/p>\n
Then in the last few steps I noticed the main hallway lights still burning, and even though those switches were further away than any of the\u00a0 others I had flicked on my exit, I headed over to turn them off.<\/p>\n
For whatever reason, the Lord had me process my decision making on this exit. You know we all process and calculate our decisions for the mundane things faster than we actually understand them, but here is what came out of my light-flicking illumination:<\/p>\n
So, let\u2019s recap.<\/p>\n
It was in that moment I loosened my tie a little and realized my behavior isn\u2019t much better than those department store barbarians from earlier in the day. I\u2019ve just learned how to sanitize my image for public consumption.<\/p>\n
Maybe you do the same thing. If you so, here\u2019s some Biblical advice for us both.<\/p>\n
First, when we start operating in that sense of entitlement when we think someone owes us something, or we deserve better, remember this:<\/p>\n
Job 38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. <\/em><\/p>\n
He said:<\/p>\n
2<\/sup> \u201cWho is this that darkens my counsel<\/p>\n
with words without knowledge?<\/p>\n
3<\/sup> Brace yourself like a man;<\/p>\n
I will question you,<\/p>\n
and you shall answer me.<\/p>\n
4<\/sup> \u201cWhere were you when I laid the earth\u2019s foundation?<\/p>\n
Tell me, if you understand.<\/p>\n
5<\/sup> Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!<\/p>\n
Who stretched a measuring line across it?<\/p>\n
6<\/sup> On what were its footings set,<\/p>\n
or who laid its cornerstone\u2014<\/p>\n
7<\/sup> while the morning stars sang together<\/p>\n
and all the angelsa<\/sup><\/a> shouted for joy?<\/p>\n
8<\/sup> \u201cWho shut up the sea behind doors<\/p>\n
when it burst forth from the womb,<\/p>\n
9<\/sup> when I made the clouds its garment<\/p>\n
and wrapped it in thick darkness,<\/p>\n
10<\/sup> when I fixed limits for it<\/p>\n
and set its doors and bars in place,<\/p>\n
11<\/sup> when I said, \u2018This far you may come and no farther;<\/p>\n
here is where your proud waves halt\u2019? [1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This goes on for two full chapters before:<\/p>\n
The Lord said to Job:<\/p>\n
2<\/sup> \u201cWill the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?<\/p>\n
Let him who accuses God answer him!\u201d<\/p>\n
3 <\/sup>Then Job answered the Lord:<\/p>\n
4<\/sup> \u201cI am unworthy\u2014how can I reply to you?<\/p>\n
I put my hand over my mouth.<\/p>\n
5<\/sup> I spoke once, but I have no answer\u2014<\/p>\n
twice, but I will say no more.\u201d [2]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Truth is God, this world and those in it owe us nothing. We should act out of our own sense of what God\u2019s word says is right or wrong, regardless of the circumstances.<\/p>\n
Second, \u00a0when our actions are lacking due to laziness, remember this:<\/p>\n
Proverbs 6 6<\/sup> Go to the ant, you sluggard;<\/p>\n
consider its ways and be wise!<\/p>\n
7<\/sup> It has no commander,<\/p>\n
no overseer or ruler,<\/p>\n
8<\/sup> yet it stores its provisions in summer<\/p>\n
and gathers its food at harvest.<\/p>\n
9<\/sup> How long will you lie there, you sluggard?<\/p>\n
When will you get up from your sleep?<\/p>\n
10<\/sup> A little sleep, a little slumber,<\/p>\n
a little folding of the hands to rest\u2014<\/p>\n
11<\/sup> and poverty will come on you like a bandit<\/p>\n
and scarcity like an armed man[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Apparently, God does not tolerate laziness and we shouldn\u2019t reward it in others or in ourselves.<\/p>\n
Third, when we do what we do because of the people watching, remember this<\/p>\n
Matthew 6 \u201cBe careful not to do your \u2018acts of righteousness\u2019 before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. <\/em><\/p>\n
2 <\/sup>\u201cSo when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 <\/sup>But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 <\/sup>so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This really is the point, isn\u2019t it? Why we should do what we should do.<\/p>\n
So that your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.<\/p>\n
Not rewarded by the public, not rewarded by yourself, but by the One.<\/p>\n
May this holiday and every season be the season of action as you do what you should do, for the right reason.<\/p>\n
a<\/sup><\/a>Hebrew the sons of God<\/em><\/p>\n[1]<\/sup><\/a>The Holy Bible\u00a0 : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Job 38:1-11.<\/p>\n
[2]<\/sup><\/a>The Holy Bible\u00a0 : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Job 40:1-5.<\/p>\n