The Best Things in Life are Really Free

2011 Black Friday, Thanks Giving, Cyber Monday Sales On 24th-28th November (Photo credit: ultracase)

Today is ‘Cyber Monday” the self appointed internet shopping extravaganza.  “Free Shipping,” and “50% Off Today Only” ads have filled my email box and flash annoyingly across yahoo and facebook.

“The Best Things in Life are Really Free!” one ad proclaims.  Let them sue me.  I think the phrase is a common enough idiom, I’m safe to repeat it, here, in the comfort of my little blog.

So, if the best things in life are really free….why do we spend so much time and energy, especially this time of year in pursuit of material stuff that isn’t free?  Material stuff that is shiny and new until the first scratch, the first nick.  Material stuff that we proclaim, “If I only had _____, I’d be happy.  I’d be really, really happy.  _____ is all that I want, really truly.”

I’ve been there.  On the begging side, on the begged side.  In high school, I got the bike that was going to change my life.  Yeah, I rode it, but I drove my little car a lot more.  One year, our eldest wanted a microscope.  That was it, all he wanted, to make his life complete.  My husband resisted; “It will end up in the back of the closet,” he grumbled.  I bought the microscope – a nice one, that could even project images.  It didn’t end up in the back of the closet, it did get passed down, to his younger brother, and then to his younger sister, before it ended up forgotten in a corner.   No med schools in their futures.

I’ve been there, but as I’ve aged, maybe even matured, hopefully deepened in faith, I’ve come to see that the best things in life are really free, and I’m not talking about the free delivery or installation of the newest flat screen or cell phone.  The best things in life….cuddling with someone you love and who loves you, a cup of steaming tea, walking on fallen leaves, smelling their sweet decay.  The best things in life are free; the best things….love, forgiveness, hope, joy, kindness, gentleness, patience, compassion, peace.  The best things can’t be bought on Black Friday or on Cyber Monday.  The best things in life are priceless.

What are your ‘best things?’

Black Friday Bargains

This morning  our two cats have spent most of their time curled up, napping by the window.  Occasionally one opens her eyes to notice the blowing pine boughs outside the window; we are experiencing strong windows today.  I’ve been sitting, resting too, enjoying a second cup of coffee on a slow morning.

Hearing the wind blow, watching the cats nap, sitting in a comfy chair, enjoying warm, fragrant coffee…these are bargains enough for my Black Friday.  Years ago, when my grandma was still alive and I’d be home from college, I’d take Grandma out shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  Back then, it wasn’t called Black Friday.  The day did represent the opening of the Christmas shopping season.  Department stores surprised us with carols and cascading bells and ribbons and shimmering trees.  We didn’t see sales until the day after Christmas.

Maybe because I am reaching an age where we are reducing our ‘stuff’ instead of adding to; maybe because our children are grown and moved out or are looking to move out into their next great adventure, I’m not inclined to shop much anymore.  Oh, there was a time, a time I’d try to find just the right toy or sweater or gadget to make a loved one happy.   A time when the house had to be decorated just so.  A time when I’d work and work to make the mood just right, but way too often I’d be too stressed out or too worn out to enjoy it.

As we move into Advent, a season of preparation in the church, preparing for Christmas and for Christ in our hearts, I know my life will be busy.  This morning is a blessing, a gift.  I am reminded of the most wonderful Advent I’ve experienced, almost ten years ago during seminary.  We had short, experiential classes in December and that year I signed up to study meditation, sitting and breathing.   The class bundled into two cars and traveled from Ohio through a road closing blizzard to a Buddhist retreat in Vermont.

Walking alone in freshly fallen New England snow, sitting in silence, eating simple meals in fellowship, away from internet and phones and the Midwest busyness of mid December was a gift, a breath of life I will never forget.  I remember returning home, I remember being assaulted by sounds and lights and seasonal activity.  When my life becomes too much, I go back to those memories of sitting and breathing; I recall and reclaim them.

This  Black Friday, I wish you the gift of time, the gift of reflecting on the blessings of life, the gift of joy that comes from simple pleasures, like watching cats nap on a windy day.