It's never too late - rants and raves on Black Friday

This Sunday is the first Sunday of the Advent Season. As we move closer to Advent, our worship of Jesus is being challenged by an empire of materialism. Sadly, many of us have been taken captive. We shop till we drop, sit in traffic jams flaring up at one another, and even create massive to-do, or to-get lists that haunt our days.

Did you know that Americans spend 450 billion every year on Christmas? Did you know that many Americans rack up credit card debt that they won't pay off by the next Christmas? We apparently buy enough things on Black Friday to move retailers from operating in the red to turning a profit. Give thanks.

Do you realize that the holiday season is very lonely for many Americans? Do you know why? Consumerism does not equal meaning, happiness, or value. It just equals having more things.

Here's something I have been learning lately.

It's never too late to become who you might have been. Maybe I'm just hopeful. I desire something deeply valuable and beautiful this advent. I desire relationship not plastic. I desire a heart that is continually being transformed by the grace of God. I desire meaning, happiness, and value. I find it more every single day in my relationship with Jesus. I grasp it more and more as I begin to understand the sermon on the mount.

I desire rubbing shoulders and spending time with others who have a desire for something deeply valuable and beautiful this advent.

I desire to give. To love. To worship.

• It's not too late to worship Jesus more fully this advent season.
  
• It's not too late to spend less, and give more gifts of relationship and presence with family and friends.
  
• It's not too late to love like Jesus loved.