It’s hard to tell sometimes that Thanksgiving is a few days away. Christmas has overtaken Thanksgiving in the stores, on radio stations, in our newspapers. Our materialistic society wants to skip right over Thanksgiving and get to Christmas. Retailers want us to start shopping early, especially in recessionary times, because we buy more and spend more.

I think there’s a reason Thanksgiving falls before Christmas. I believe that if we truly focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving — the acknowledgement of the blessings in our lives — we will be more satisfied with what we have in our lives and will spend less on Christmas. If we focus on being thankful for what we have, we will realize how full our lives already are. We will have a better sense of what we need versus what we want.

The line between need and want is easily blurred in our society. Advertising convinces us we need new clothes, a more economical vehicle, a “more practical” computer, or a winter getaway to somewhere warm. It causes us to be discontent with what we have. It’s designed to stir emotions within us to convince us that we need something rather than just want it.

Rather than letting society’s Christmas crowd out Thanksgiving, let’s allow Thanksgiving to crowd out society’s Christmas. Let’s focus on being thankful for what we have rather than desiring what we don’t. Let’s be thankful for Christ, the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Proverbs 10:22 (NLT): The blessing of the Lord makes a person rich,
and he adds no sorrow with it.

Colossians 3:5 (NIV): Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.