Leaving on Thursday evening, my family and I headed to Branson, Missouri for a weekend of shopping, eating, and getting into the Christmas mood. I was really looking forward to getting outside of Greenville and Brighton, and head to a city with a lot of people, and a night life that goes past 11 o'clock at night.
We arrived shortly after Thanksgiving dinner, and as we sat in our hotel room, we flipped through the ads, and lining up all of the "needed" things that we would be standing in line for starting at 3 in the morning for, I had something stirring inside of me...
The things that I have been exposed to since entering college, have really made me stop and challenge myself and all of the lifestyles that I have once lived. I know that I come from a wealthy family, and I never really thought anymore about anything except for the fact that I know that there are starving people around the world, who get sponsorships....Since entering Greenville, all of that has been thrown out the window.
I have had a deeper understanding given to me about the world around me. I have had friends leave the country who have come back with stories that are weighing so heavy on their hearts, that it has become something so constant on their hearts and minds. I have other friends who have witnessed first hand here in the United States what it means to be homeless.
As we prepared to leave for a day of shopping, I had my focus else where. We were standing in line at Kohl's at 3AM, and all I could hear was people yelling and screaming at each other and complaining about how long the lines were, and how upset they were because they didn't get that one thing that they just HAD to have before they could go home this evening.
Once we arrived at Target, I was so wrapped up in this idea of people being so selfish, that I began to look for things in the store that stuck out to me, and I began to keep a mental note of it....
One lady was upset because she had been standing inside, in the warm heated building for over an hour.
Another person was upset because the last Blue Ray player had be purchased by the person in from of him.
I had a hard time listening to all of this, when the photographs that have been shown to me by my friends kept flashing in my mind. We have SO much, yet we think we have so little, and we must have more.
This trip every year has been when the biggest part of the Christmas shopping in our family is done, and that was the same understanding before we left again this year. But, as soon as I was thrown into it, I didn't want anything...I slept in the car most of the day, trying to escape from the materialistic world that I live in. People were fighting, screaming, complaining, and upset over things of this world that will soon parish...I kept thinking of a specific picture that I have seen from a friends recent trip to Africa...She is standing with a child from Africa, and they look on both of their faces is pure and beautiful. They were standing in the middle of nothing, but in the presence of Jesus, and the happiness that comes from knowing that WE ARE loved.
All we needed to do on Black Friday is spend time seeing what is really important. Standing in the presence of Jesus, and enjoy the company that is given to us, and the love that flows to us from the people around us who mean the most to all of us.
I am still stuck on this Black Friday thing, but I feel as though God is using this for His glory. I have no desire to buy all of the things that I think I "need", instead, I want to spend time with Him, and listen to what it is I am supposed to be doing instead.
Branson this year has been so different. In more ways than just this. I have found out a lot about who I am supposed to be in this world, and what I, BRITTNEY have been called to do. I am learning to let go of things, and to give God all of the CONTROL.
I am still working through it all, but I will be heading back to Greenville soon, where my support system is in place, and I will continue to see what God has in store for me (:
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