Home for the holidays

Jason patiently waited for several cars to pull out of the row where he had spotted an empty parking space. As he slowly approached another driver pulled up at the same time wanting to park. Jason cheerfully smiled and waved to the other driver to take the space then continued just a short distance to another empty spot.

Steve rolled through the four way stop in front of several other drivers grinding his back bumper on the concrete approach as his car zoomed into the parking lot. He then had to swerve around two pedestrians crossing the street before pulling in front of another car that had been waiting to park in one of the two spaces that he took.

Jason was home from college on Thanksgiving break and was looking forward to seeing his family that he had been missing for the past four months. As he got out of his Toyota Corolla he bent down and picked up a fast food bag that someone had carelessly tossed out into the parking lot.

Steve had parked his black BMW across two parking spaces. He had run out of smokes earlier that day and was going through nicotine withdrawals. He bent down grabbing an empty beer can that had been rolling around under his feet and tossed it out onto the ground.

Jason was shopping for last minute items that his mother needed to finish prepping for the family’s Thanksgiving celebration the next day. He took a shopping cart, which someone had thoughtlessly abandoned in the parking space next to him, back to the front of the store. His shopping list was long and the store was crowded with other people doing the exact same thing. Patiently, he endured the long lines at check-out.

Steve brushed past several people as he pushed his way into the store. Hung-over from a late night of drinking all he could focus on was getting his smokes and back to the house. He was an only child and his parents were both too busy with their careers to celebrate Thanksgiving. Rushing through the store he bumped into a group of people sending several cans of stewed tomatoes rolling down the aisle.  

Parts of this story are all too familiar to us, especially around holidays like Thanksgiving. Life can be so hectic that we too begin to behave like Steve putting our own needs in front of the needs of others. The time saved by darting in and out of traffic or stepping in front of someone at check out will not really save us time but instead causes frustration for others and ultimately raises our own blood pressure.

Instead, why not slow down. Get up a few minutes early so you don’t have to rush to work. Take time to view the sunrise giving thanks to God for His mercies are new each day. Let us realize that each individual has been made in the image of God and respect them by giving them preference, putting other’s needs above our own.

While we all enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal, complete with cranberry sauce, turkey and pumpkin pie there are so many other things to be thankful for: life, forgiveness of sin, air to breathe, a heartbeat, spouses, children and more things that I have space to list here.

Thanksgiving is a time of sharing. It’s a time to break down barriers, removing walls that we have built up over the past ten months. Thinking about the preciousness of others is such a wonderful thing to contemplate. Now is the time for action as this coming week and month will give all plenty of opportunities to shine our light for God.

It is always the light that captivates our attention. It allows us to see the details more clearly. Architects carefully position buildings in ways in which the light will enhance them. Artists as well as photographers know when the light is just right to capture their subjects. Light is warming, illuminating and helps us find our way when we get lost in the darkness.

Where there is light there is hope. Jesus came as the dayspring from on high, the bright and morning star bringing brilliant light to a dark world. He came to earth for one purpose to illuminate God’s love so that the lost could find their way home. For it’s the light that helps us see the truth.

You are the light of the world. You are God’s poem and masterpiece, lamps full of oil set out in a dark world to guide the lost back to the Father.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”