{"id":1045,"date":"2012-11-23T04:40:11","date_gmt":"2012-11-23T11:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/soulwod\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2012-11-23T04:40:11","modified_gmt":"2012-11-23T11:40:11","slug":"a-day-for-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/soulwod\/2012\/11\/a-day-for-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"A Day for Attention"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Yesterday we feasted, we spent time with family, and now we rest. \u00a0If we practice the traditional Friday fast of Christians, then we rest our bodies (if you haven\u2019t started this practice today is an excellent day to start). \u00a0But it is also a time to relax into the Thanksgivings that we celebrated yesterday which means that this is also a day not to jump immediately into the season of wants and desires. \u00a0Gift giving is good and like anyone I \u00a0like receiving and giving gifts, but in our excess we have almost made gifts meaningless. \u00a0We render gifts meaningless when they come out of our debts; we render gifts meaningless when buying them <a href=\"http:\/\/www.truthdig.com\/report\/item\/why_you_shouldnt_shop_at_walmart_on_friday_20121121\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">comes at the expense of others<\/a>. \u00a0Good gifts come not from getting the best deal on the latest wizbang digital must-have of the year, but through paying attention. \u00a0We must pay attention to the subtle delights of the person to whom we are giving the gift and then try to meet that delight. \u00a0This comes from a well chosen book or a gift made with care and time and attention put into it.<\/p>\n<p>Some Christians have taken to committing to spend no more than a $100 this season. \u00a0I think that is a good idea, not because it will save money, but because it will force attention\u2013limits help us do that. \u00a0Rest helps us pay attention too\u2013it opens up the space for us to see. \u00a0So today, rather than join the mad dash of Black Friday (a color with so many meanings) we should rest and watch. \u00a0Advent is coming, signs are appearing, there is much to pay attention to.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday we feasted, we spent time with family, and now we rest. \u00a0If we practice the traditional Friday fast of Christians, then we rest our bodies (if you haven\u2019t started this practice today is an excellent day to start). \u00a0But it is also a time to relax into the Thanksgivings that we celebrated yesterday which [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - 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