Consumerism says... What if "Black Friday" never comes? And how can you compete with that line of reasoning? "Driven" is a word like compulsive or obsessed that accurately describes our insatiable urge to spend and buy those things regardless of need or affordability. Have we ever heard the word content? It's a word like satisfied and enough... yet rarely used in the context of our Western society.
It matters little whether one is poor or rich... this feeling of "want" permeates our every channel on every station... in every movie and every song... saturated with sex and lust of every sort... left to comply or just turn away. Someone said that our addictions are our most honest form of worship... Mmmm. That said it is no wonder why priorities are set according to our desires, goals, and our dreams... the road we are going down comes with it's own destination regardless of intentions.
A cartoon type characterization of a saying, portrays in vivid picturesque the question...
"Where are we going...
and why are we in this hand-basket?"
...not every one sees the world going to "Hell in a hand-basket" but for some it's just a matter of opening their eyes! I seem at times to be pessimistic, but I do have hope. I have hope for anyone who can somehow live within their means, and for the purpose they were designed for. We all have gifts and callings... a unique place in life, sometimes that gets skewed by greed and ambition, and leaves us successful by someone els's standards.
There is another saying that I have come across, and it has been used for many a start, and forgotten for many an end; something we could all use as a reminder of...
"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance... Love never fails"
(1 Corinthians 13:1-7)
...if you have loved and lost, you have become the final victor! Loving doesn't mean that your kids will love you back, or your spouse will be faithful... it means that you have given the best of yourself and for that you can be sure, you have planted a seed that will endure forever... and you are in the best of company, the Bible says "God is love."
It's not what we can consume... but what we can contribute. You see you can't take your money with you, but you will take your friends... so, what if Black Friday doesn't come? Well, that's just something I can live with !:]