CHRISTMAS IS NOT ABOUT GIFTS…IT’S
ALL ABOUT CHRIST!
Since this is the first day
of what has become a COMMERCIALIZED CHRISTMAS in America, a.k.a. BLACK FRIDAY,
I thought it would be wise to reprint an article I read yesterday by Miles Patrick Yohnke. Here goes:
Recently, as I was
cycling to my destination I passed a park along the way. As I went by, I heard a male voice. An old man was training his young dog. With a clear, strong, yet tender voice, he
taught his dog to sit and the dog did as he was commanded. With his leash on, they walked a few steps and
repeated the process. He praised his dog
and I could see that the dog was very happy.
The man was teaching
the dog that it could be more. He taught
the dog focus, discipline, and structure. What really struck me was that this took time.
AND HE TOOK THE TIME.
As I continued along
my journey I reflected on what I had witnessed. Thinking how that man in the park took quality
time. He was there. He was getting the most out of that dog. How fortunate that dog really was.
How often do we take
the time to teach our own children? We
constantly hear echoes of, “I’m so busy, I feel like I’m always running, I’m so
stressed.”
Our modern world is inundated
with marketing and advertising that has one goal, and one goal only. And that is to make a product so attractive
that the consumer feels an obsession to possess it in order to feel special, fulfilled
or popular. Children and teens need to
understand the powerful attraction that marketing can create. They
must learn to differentiate between what one truly needs and what one wants.
And we must teach the
children well. We need to teach them
that advertising exists so that people or big corporations can make money. Because of that, advertisers use powerful
methods to convince consumers to buy products.
We must teach our
children how media corporations need paid advertising to stay on the air or to continue publishing. We need to show them
how advertising convinces
people to want something, even if they don’t really need it. We should discuss this when our families are
confronted by powerful and attractive advertising, whether on television and
radio, in newspapers and magazines, or on billboards.
We should discuss
how advertising tries to make you feel better about yourself if you own a
certain product or convince you that other people will like you better or think
you’re “cool.”
We should explain
that shopping should seldom be seen as a fun pastime, but rather something
people should do to buy items that they truly need. Carefully explain the difference between need and want.
Help your children
observe how many times a day your family is exposed to advertising. For example,
there are ads on the sides of buses, in arenas, on radio and television, on
billboards, etc. Teach them to
understand when a television or radio station tells you to tweet them or post to their Facebook site, that they are only doing so to create
traffic hits to their own website that will increase their revenue. Show our youth that advertising tries to create an image of what a person should (or should not) look like, even though this
image quite often does not reflect reality.
Here is the alarming
thing: Do parents really know the difference
between needs and wants? And, if so, do we love enough to speak truth
to our children (and to ourselves) even when it is uncomfortable or
unpopular. Parents and grandparents, we
must refuse to retreat to that old mindset of “I’m so busy, I feel like I’m
always running, I’m so stressed.” And we
need to forge genuine connections with our offspring, our real life legacy.
These days, most married
couples both work full-time. Perhaps, as
an indirect result, divorce rates have soared to all-time highs and tag-team
parenting has become the order of the day. Parents feel overwhelmed. And, frankly, much of this is centered on how
to pay their rent or mortgage, or for the miscellaneous stuff in their homes, or
for their vehicles, their clothes, their vacations, their holidays, and on and
on. For the most part, we no longer
understand the core values of life or the real meaning
of life.
Ask yourself this
question today: Do I actually need to keep up with the Joneses? Or am I acting as a child on Black Friday,
merely wearing an adult face?
WOW…thank you Miles Patrick Yohnke! You have given us something to think and pray
about. Don’t get me wrong, sisters and
brothers, I love Christmas just as much as anyone, and I, too, am thrilled with
the opportunity to give and to receive gifts.
But as we enter this Advent Season, let us make a solemn pledge in 2014,
and let’s stay true to it: WE WILL KEEP
CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS!
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