No Black Friday around here. Staying away from all the shopping establishments, the mad crowds, the crazy drivers, the picked over merchandise, the disgruntled cashiers, all of it!
It's White Friday at our house. My dear, sweet wife has "White Christmas" and other classics playing on the stereo and four 500 pound boxes of Christmas decorations sit in the middle of the living room floor (OK, the boxes didn't weigh 500 pound each - but when you accumulate Christmas "stuff" for 41 years, those boxes are heavy!). By the time I get home from work today, it will look a lot like Christmas.
Ah yes, work. Yesterday, following Thanksgiving worship (has anyone yet found that loose turkey?), we traveled to Moon Valley to meet up with Sherri's extended family. It's the one time of the year when most of the clan is able to gather and we have such a wonderful time catching up with each other, eating way too much good food, holding the annual touch football game (almost an exciting as any pro game on TV) and finishing up the day with the best pie this side of Camelback Mountain. It seems that Thanksgiving Day ends much too quickly.
Thursday is the day that I get most of my Sunday stuff done - write my sermon, prepare prayers, get my Confirmation lesson ready. So I'll do that today on White Friday.
But it's not such a happy, White Friday for some folks. Yesterday, a family gathered around a loved one as he breathed his last and went to rest in the arms of Jesus. They recognize that it was a blessing that their husband, father and grandfather fell asleep in Jesus. They are comforted by the words they confess in the Creed: "...the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting."
If there is anything that can turn a dark day into a White Friday, it surely is God's Holy Word. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. (John 11:25-26) Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:19) Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Holding onto God's promises helps us through all our dark days. If your White Friday is not so white or happy, turn to God's Word for the comfort and help you can use when your days are filled with darkness. Let the "Light of the World" shine His light of love on you.
