The Thankful Face of Black Friday

At 4:00 a.m., the alarm jangled me out of a sound sleep. I dragged from my warm bed. Why had I let my daughter talk me into joining the hordes of pre-Christmas shoppers at this ungodly hour? I dressed, fixed my hair and makeup. You bet I wore makeup! Sipped a quick cuppa joe and we were off to the fray.

Rush hour traffic at 4:45 a.m. Parking lots crammed--Toys R Us, Target, Wal-Mart, Sears, JC Penneys, Old Navy, World Market, Fred Meyers. We found a parking slot and, slipping past television news cameras, joined sock-shoppers at Fred Meyers--then off to toys and videos.

Long lines coiled in front of every cash register. And the shoppers were . . . friendly and patient, co-conspirators against an angry economy. On this day after Thanksgiving, may I continue to be thankful for:

• health that allows me to get up and go!
• my daughter who prompts me to get out of bed and sally forth!
  
• strangers who embrace one another in their attempts to bring joy to their loved ones!
• God who made us, sustains us, and gives us hope for a future centered on the Giver rather than gifts!

May God bless you this Christmas season and cause you to hunger for a future with Him. 

A String of Selah Pearls - Psalm 54:3

Positioned gracefully across the Book of Psalms is a string of seventy-one pearls, lovely beads of wisdom followed by the admonition SELAH which means, “Pause, think on these things, meditate.”

Psalm 54:3 “Strangers are attacking me; ruthless men seek my life—men without regard for God. Selah.”

Meditation

Does this pearl say that all men who do not regard God are ruthless? No.

When I came to faith in Jesus Christ in my late twenties, I had already formed heart friendships with many people whom I love to this day. While certainly not ruthless people, some of them are antagonistic to God, having no understanding or regard for him at all. They don’t comprehend that when they slight him, they slight me.

Yet, God reminds me that I came from similar stock. Before my conversion, I was hateful to him and all that he represented.

Furthermore, God has prompted me to continue to love these “strangers” of the kingdom of God, to model Jesus before them, and to pray that they will come to know him. The deep desire of my heart is that these dear ones will come to know my “First Love” as their own.

SELAH

Look up: II Peter 3:9; Luke 7:33-35; Revelation 2:4