My daughter got a “Dora the Explorer” tent for her birthday a few weeks ago.  It’s not any more than about 3 feet by 3 feet, w/a couple of openings on either side to crawl into.  This past week, she was playing with the tent, and in the course of her play she called the tent, “Her castle.”  It struck me as a wonderful example of how a child can take a tent and make it a castle.  Meanwhile, the average American can take a castle and call it a tent.  

We live in the most prosperous place in the world, and each day, hundreds of thousands of us are so caught up in being upwardly mobile, that we are discontented where we currently are.  We live in an apartment, and want a house.  We live in a house, and want a bigger house.  We live in a mansion, and figuratively want a castle.  We live in a castle, and what’s next?  I long for the same child like quality that enabled my daughter to look at her tent as a castle.  Scripture tells us that “godliness with contentment is great gain.”  I don’t want to be the guy living in a castle and wishing it wasn’t a tent.

The build up is intense. It’s massive actually. If an alien from another planet happened to land anywhere in the United States from October 1st to the beginning of November they would think that Halloween is the most celebrated and anticipated Holiday in America. What would they think of our trick or treating, outlandish costumes and obsession with candy? What would happen if they landed here a few days after Halloween? What would they find? Christmas. Decorations, songs, sales, etc. In every store following October 31st, you’ll find the Christmas scene being rolled out. Then, tucked nicely in between Halloween and Christmas, there would be a little blip on the radar somewhere around the last full week of November. Would they notice it? We call it Thanksgiving. Many know it as “the day before we do all of our Christmas shopping day.” Yes, Thanksgiving is one of the most overlooked if not the most overlooked holiday we have. Why is that? I believe it has something to do with our consumerism. At Halloween you get lots of candy. At Christmas you get mounds of toys. But at Thanksgiving you just think about all the candy and toys without actually getting any. It’s hard for stores to make money off of a Holiday where people are simply mindful and thankful for what they have. It’s much easier when we’re all doling things out. I think it’s tragic that the day we’ve set aside to specifically thank God for all He’s done is squeezed between Vampire masks and Santa Claus so that it’s just a Holiday we get past in order to move closer to Christmas. I for one, would love to see an emphasis reemerge on Thanksgiving. Time where we set aside consumerism and getting and giving and are simply thankful to God Almighty for what He’s doing and has done in our lives. And in our country. And in our world. And also, for what He’s doing through Jesus Christ. It may make retailers angry. It may slow down our economy a blip. But it may just gladden the heart of God. Of course one day out of 365 1/4 days is not very much, but it’s a start.