PSA….

You know how when you have to have a really important talk with someone incredibly dear to you, but you don’t want to because you know it could cause discomfort and possibly strain the relationship…  So, you put it off as long as possible, and when you finally have the talk it goes so well and the two of you are closer than ever.  Well, I really hope this goes that way.  I mean really…like really, really...

 

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving…. which should be like a Norman Rockwell painting.  Unfortunately, for many of us , it won’t.  It will be exhausting…physically and emotionally.  It will be draining after miles of travel and tons of preparation….and it will include strained relationships and unaddressed hurt feelings between family members.  It will be chaotic as kids scream, and run through non child friendly homes with cousins they haven’t seen in ages.  There will be resentment and insecurity at so many Thanksgiving tables this year.  For many, it holds the potential to be so…painful.

I want you to know that I get that.  I am so sorry for that.  If we were together right now I would hold your hand while you cried…or ranted…or worried in silence.  I get that holidays are not sweet…not something to be thankful for, for so many of us.

But that is not what I am writing this for….that is not the Public Service Announcement.  The PSA is this….Screw Black Friday…

Now, I can see you scratching your head a little bit on the jump from “painful family holidays” to “stay away from stores”.  But, they are related.   Relationships are valuable….and fragile.  Many of us will see the deep needs and hurts of our children, spouses, and ourselves as we come together these next few days.  We need to pay attention to them.  We need to give time to restoring them.  We can’t do that if we are spending all of our time , money, and mental energy on when to get to the store and how to make sure we get the desired thing before they are all gone.

I promise you, nothing you stand in line for this week will heal a single person in your family.  The 40 inch tv on sale for $179 will not heal your marriage.  The Play Station that is 50% off will not make your child so happy that they will love their siblings and treat others with more respect….The $29 tablet will not heal the wound in your teenager’s heart now that they have been repeatedly exposed to graphic pornography and violence.  If you truly want to have a real chance of meeting these real needs, put your credit card away and be with them this week.  Sit with them….talk with them….play with them….cry with them.  Live life with your people this week….not your retailers.  I swear….your family is not hurting because you don’t have enough stuff.  And giving up this precious time this week could , in fact, really add to the harm.  Numbing ourselves with things so we don’t feel the hurt will only give the wound more time to grow.

Love your people this week.  Give them yourself….not plastic and wires.  Give them you…