Well, yesterday was Valentine's Day, the day on which men spend money on their women. Today is Half Price Chocolate Day, when women spend money on themselves. Strange, isn't it? Too bad that Brach's Conversation Hearts never seem to go on sale.
Anyway, now we have kind of a strange interlude for businesses. Since July, when they started Back To School Days, we have gone in sequence from Back to School to Halloween to Thanksgiving (which is Black Friday stuff) to Christmas to Valentine's Day. Now, they have nothing big until Easter, which is two months away. We will see Easter stuff right away (I have already seen some), but there is no real pressure for awhile.
We move from season to season in the same way that farmers used to do, except that our seasons are make-believe and theirs were real. Marketers drive our seasons just as the sun drove their seasons. Everything works around the calendar for both us and them. Such is life.
But, it does get old, doesn't it? Sometimes, you sit down and think about how much time has passed over the years. Another Christmas is here, we say, just like the old ones, but it is really very different. A new Easter is coming, an old Valentine's Day has passed, and we just go along.
Such is God's will for our lives. We live one day at a time, no matter what we think we are doing. The grocery store will put up its Easter stuff today (in all probability), right next to the half-off Valentine's Day shelves. Someone will complain about "creep" of the holidays. But, really, it does not matter.
What I mean is that I have to live today. Easter and Christmas and Halloween and birthdays and anniversaries and planting days and harvest moons are not at the heart of my life. If I lived a year in a place with none of those things, my life would not be significantly affected. Men created all these things. But God gave me a life.
My wife, my children, my job, my church, my friends, do not rely on these things at all. They are the things God has given me to care about.
As for "holiday creep," I say "fine." It means I can buy Conversation Hearts more often (which I like) and it helps business, so why do I care that Easter is two months away? Malted Milk Easter Eggs are available. They are not Conversation Hearts, but the white colored ones are pretty good.
Anyway, now we have kind of a strange interlude for businesses. Since July, when they started Back To School Days, we have gone in sequence from Back to School to Halloween to Thanksgiving (which is Black Friday stuff) to Christmas to Valentine's Day. Now, they have nothing big until Easter, which is two months away. We will see Easter stuff right away (I have already seen some), but there is no real pressure for awhile.
We move from season to season in the same way that farmers used to do, except that our seasons are make-believe and theirs were real. Marketers drive our seasons just as the sun drove their seasons. Everything works around the calendar for both us and them. Such is life.
But, it does get old, doesn't it? Sometimes, you sit down and think about how much time has passed over the years. Another Christmas is here, we say, just like the old ones, but it is really very different. A new Easter is coming, an old Valentine's Day has passed, and we just go along.
Such is God's will for our lives. We live one day at a time, no matter what we think we are doing. The grocery store will put up its Easter stuff today (in all probability), right next to the half-off Valentine's Day shelves. Someone will complain about "creep" of the holidays. But, really, it does not matter.
What I mean is that I have to live today. Easter and Christmas and Halloween and birthdays and anniversaries and planting days and harvest moons are not at the heart of my life. If I lived a year in a place with none of those things, my life would not be significantly affected. Men created all these things. But God gave me a life.
My wife, my children, my job, my church, my friends, do not rely on these things at all. They are the things God has given me to care about.
As for "holiday creep," I say "fine." It means I can buy Conversation Hearts more often (which I like) and it helps business, so why do I care that Easter is two months away? Malted Milk Easter Eggs are available. They are not Conversation Hearts, but the white colored ones are pretty good.