The Holiday Season

The holiday season is always a mixed bag for me. On one hand, I do love a lot of Christmas traditions. I love the lights, songs, family camaraderie. On the other hand, the holidays can be a very stressful time. The consumerism of this nation drives me up the wall. I think this line from a commercial pretty much sums it up, "But if it looks the same, how will people know that I upgraded?" The Lord really needs to bring his judgment on this nation by how we behave around Christmas time. It's really disgusting. I went out this weekend to a shopping center and almost lost it. Two people snaked my parking spot and then when I finally did get a parking spot, I got yelled at because someone thought I stole their spot. After that, I was like, I need to leave or I am going to turn into one of these crazy people. Now, I am not trying to say that I am better than all these people. Obviously I can lose it too around the holidays too with the parking madness. I buy gifts for my family. I haven't figured out how to navigate this season with justice perfectly either. I am very much apart of this consumer driven culture as well. I feel stressed, lacking time to get everything done, and feel like I am missing out on anticipating the birth of Jesus. I am in need of repentance and forgiveness for my behavior as well. Lord would you break this hold that materialism has on this nation.

I also think that it's interesting to think about holiday shopping with the juxtaposition of Occupy Wall Street. Now, I am in general I am a very uninformed person, which is terrible, I know. But it seems that people are willing to protest the rich hording their wealth, but we are not willing to take responsibility for how we contribute to the problem of greed. Now maybe the people protesting are not the same crazy shoppers at the mall, but I think the general American public would support the movement of Occupy Wall Street but not want to give up their holiday shopping either. I say this living in LA, so I realize I have a skewed perspective on the nation. But don't these two things happening almost simultaneously seem strange?