After Christmas shopping is the time you need to hold on to your wallet, hold on to your money, and hold on to your sanity! The parking lots are full of shoppers, waiting to flog the stores, ready to buy ANY available product that 'seems' to be on sale. "Seems" is the operative word here, because not all sales are 'sales'. We went today to a store with those 'after Christmas' sales. Well, I happen to know, having been in there a couple days before Christmas, that it is the same sale that was going on there - the products that I had bought 50% off that day are still 50% off - not an after-Christmas sale for me! I kept my money. I go for true sales - those that are heaped upon one another.
I always hold tightly to my purse, because you never know who is lurking around, waiting to steal it from you. Given half a chance, some will just yank it off your arm - not mine! I hang on for dear life! I also try to hang on to as much of my money as I can. I pray for sales, for unexpected price reductions, so that I am sort of surprised when the cashier rings it up and it's not near as much as I had expected. I say "Thank You, Lord", usually to the cashier's amazement! I know where my money comes from! Today, we spent mostly Christmas money from years before. You say, "Huh?" Well, why spend money, if you don't have something you need to buy? That way, it's with you, when you truly need something specific. So, we debated and decided to spend a little of it today for a good cause.
My sanity? If I had stayed in the malls too long, that would have been gone. You get so frustrated with people in the aisles that won't move, those that stand in the wrong lines, those that bump into you and never say excuse me, or those that have no patience. But, there always is a bright light among the darkest of malls - someone who says 'excuse me' - 'may I help you?', and truly means it.
So, today, I tried to have the patience of Job. Life is a time of learning, and patience goes a long way, when you are faced with the crowds in the malls and in the parking lots. But, patience also gives us a time of reflecting on what are lives are really here on earth for - to serve the living God. So, during the rest of this year and years to come, hold on! One of these days, you'll be caught up in the air, to live with Him forever. Then, you'll be glad you 'held on' ....... no matter what was served up on life's plate!
Matthew 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
Master's Table-Devotionals
