Black Friday

Black Friday.
As a little girl, I remember the day after Thanksgiving had the thickest newspaper.
It was filled with sale supplements…before the days of internet and shop at home.

Black Friday always sounded so ominous to me…before I knew what it actually meant.
Black Friday is the name given to the day following Thanksgiving.
It signifies the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

The name Black Friday originated in Philadelphia, around 1961, describing the amount of vehicle and pedestrian traffic that always occurred on this day.
By 1975, the term was used among retailers outside of Philadelphia.
It was to signify the point at which the retailers make a profit or are “in the black”.

When I first got my driver’s license, I thought it was fun to shop on Black Friday.
Malls were relatively new to our area back then.
The mall, where I shopped, opened in 1974…two years before I would get my license.

Patience was the order of the day.
Finding a parking spot was a rarity.
Shopping time was wasted by driving around looking for a parking space.

During my college years, I shopped that day as well, since it coincided with school breaks.
When I got married I vowed that I would not shop on Black Friday.
My husband had off from work and it was nicer to just be home.

When the children came along, our family tradition officially began.
This is the day we decorate the house for Christmas.
I always look forward to this decorating day since it extends the holiday a bit.

Everyone is home from school or off from work.
Each one had their decorating jobs to do through the years.
No matter their ages…they still like to do the jobs they have always done.
The boys and my husband do the outside lights.
My older son puts candles in the windows…My younger son sets up the manger.
Each hangs their own stockings on the mantle.

My oldest daughter hangs the poinsettia sprays above the doorways.
My middle daughter wraps the garland greens around the staircase and banisters.
My youngest daughter sets up stacking boxes and hangs berry garland in the kitchen.
I do the miscellaneous touches…and recruit help along the way.

It takes a few hours, but then it is done.
We all enjoy the warm, cozy feeling of Christmas for the next month.
Christmas music plays throughout the house.

It is my favorite time of year!

It has been a blessing to change the focus of the day.
There is always time to shop…but you have to be intentional to make memories.
It is so important to begin traditions that become part of your family story.

We usually choose a tree and decorate it the week after Thanksgiving.
Another night of laughing and memories.
Unwrapping all the handmade ornaments and re-telling the story behind them.
No matter how many times the stories are told…they are new!
They are a part of us!

Black Friday…already happened on a hillside…many years ago.

“In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.”
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:9-12)

God the Father caused the sun to darken as His Son was dying on the cross.
Black Friday…the time like mourning for an only Son.

There is another type of darkness…the endless search for the Word of the Lord.
Staggering…searching.
Wanting to hear the Word of the Lord…hungry…thirsty for it.
It is not found!

That is the Blackest Friday I could ever imagine.

After Jesus’ Black Friday on Calvary, there was the Resurrection.
Black Friday turned into Sunny Sunday…luminous…glorious.

The famine for God’s Word plunges the whole world in darkness.
The whole world is starving…lips parched with thirst.
There is a vital need for the Word of the Lord…more than food…more than water.

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while he is near. (Isaiah 55:6)

Without God’s Word, it is always Black Friday.
With His Word…in Christ…it is Sunny Sunday!
Luminous.
Glorious.
Our hunger and thirst for Him…satisfied!

Do you know someone who needs their famine to end?
Someone who needs the Son of Sunday to illuminate the darkness of Black Friday?

Shine for Him…and push away the darkness for another.
They are hungry…they are thirsty…for Him.

 

 

2 responses to “Black Friday”

1. Thank you. So gloriously true.

   Reply

   • Michelle,
     You are welcome, friend!
     Gina

     Reply