In three more days it will be Thanksgiving. Most of us are shifting into day-off mode, "exercising" to stretch our bellies to make room for the delicacies we will enjoy on Thursday. We will gather with friends and family and we will give thanks. In many cases it will be a ritual, we pray because we're supposed to pray and we eat because it's good to eat. Then we go shopping and lose our humanity in that swirl of consumerism known as black Friday. Funny thing about the season: it gives us a chance to miss the point twice.
Potential Church, where my family and I attend service, ran a food drive in cooperation with the Miami Rescue Mission yesterday. We dropped off a couple of turkeys. It felt nice and empty to do it. Why empty? There's something just slightly off about donating food before National Pig-Out Day. I will eat better today, even if I'm not hungry, than most of the world will eat all week. I once read where someone wrote, "The next time you feel like complaining, remember that your garbage can eats better than 90% of the world." Kinda makes you think.
The message in church yesterday was about the history and meaning of the Christmas Tree. The subtext dealt with helping those less fortunate. I have, recently, become a student of Ayn Rand and her philosophy of objectivism. Objectivism is the political philosophy of ego, or, every man for himself, basically. Now I find myself needing to reconcile Objectivism with Christianity. It's easier than you'd think: the better I do, the more good I can do.
The tough part here is the give a man a fish, teach a man to fish thing. Some people were never taught to fish, they've been given fish their whole lives. How to appeal to their egos, how to get them to learn to do what has been done for them for so long, is the greatest challenge there is. The transition is challenging, not impossible, but difficult, especially in this kind of economic environment, and during the time of year when charity is expected.
What are you going to do, not only during this season, but from here on out, to help make your country and your world a better place? Who will you teach to fish? What family will you help? Where will you volunteer? What will you do? Do something, and take your children with you. If you are blessed enough to give them Thanksgiving and Christmas, even modest ones, than you are doing better than so many out there. Service to your fellow man is the path to prosperity, to understanding, to joy, and yes, to heaven.
God bless you. Make it someone else's best day yet, as well as your own.
- Adolfo
http://www.potentialchurch.com
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