How To Survive The 2011 'Holiday' Season

26 November 2011

UNDER THE WATERFALL: Patrick Butler

Take another look at “Black Friday” and now the hopeful marketing ploy  "Black Saturday," happening right in front of our eyes this Thanksgiving weekend.

The New York Times reported recently that Americans aren't buying, so to speak, the “economic recovery” hype that's been persistently, insistently pervasive in the press the past two years. This is not too hard to understand. When one is counting their blessings for simply being alive, having food to eat and a purpose in life because that's all they can afford - rather than downloading the newest app guaranteeing “peace of mind,” - sales are bound to fall off.

When it comes to having “stuff” America is not what it used to be, even just a few years ago. Christmas is bound to be the same sad materialistic scenario. But most uncomfortable situations present an opportunity for spiritual growth. There is, oddly, a blessing in an economic downturn.

Try picking up a pencil – or your iPad if you must – and list 10 good things a slower economy could do for you or society. Take a calm, slow look and answers will present themselves.

What is needed this Christmas season is something to gain new perspective. For me, personal spiritual growth comes most easily with what I call “porch time."

  Porch time is when I stop, sit on my porch swing and watch the wind blowing through the trees, hear the sound of the earth turning, marvel at the life of nature so evident nearby. In the past I wished I had  time do this more often, but I had so many places to go. In a downturn economy, I do have more time. What a blessing. Porch time is free, and I've found it to be precious. 

   I'll leave it to each one to discover their list of 10 (You DO have a personalized list. One simply has to look for it).

  In seasons such as these, I recall the ancient biblical admonition to “be still and know that I am God.” In a Christian nation – that is, a country where Christianity is the most practiced religion – believers must come to grips with the idea that economic productivity is not necessarily Christianity. It's not necessarily opposed to it either, but it's not the main clause, reason or purpose for it.

Just ask the Rev. Emmanuel Nnyanzi, the Ugandan pastor who looks after 1,000 orphans there, and once “prayed in” daily food for his charges for three years. 

Nnyanzi and his wife, Sarah, left Tyler, Texas, for his home in Uganda today after a three-week teaching tour, telling all who would listen that there is so much more to life than" things." That is the title of my new book as well, about Nnyanzi's ministry. The book tracks the beginning and remarkable lessons of the couple's lives. They flourished despite the absence of "things."

 The truly impoverished Christians in Uganda  "have a thousand times the spirituality in their hearts than we Americans do,” said Dr. Mark Barret, the USA director of Parental Care Ministries, who helped sponsor Nnyanzi's tour of churches and ministries.

Really? Is  that an exaggeration? Well, If it's only half-true, then Ugandans have “500 times” the spirituality many American Christians do. It would make a great Christmas gift, would it not, to have 500 times the spirituality in our lives on Dec. 25, than we had Nov. 24. What a present. What a gracious, renewing, life-giving gift.

Porch time has been gift-wrapped, presented and given to us a gift. Anyone can have it. Anyone can access it. Anyone can enjoy it. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't cost anything except the time it takes to do it.Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas, and  many blessings to everyone.