It seems that the first sign of fall is not
the school supplies in the aisles of the supermarkets, “The Urge
for Going” playing wistfully on the independent radio stations, or
even the turning of the first leaves. And it's not the first pumpkin
spice cereal, yogurt, and limited edition Peeps. On September 2, I
went to the store to start my pumpkin spice shopping. (I put it on my
bucket list to try every pumpkin spice item I could find except for
cat supplies.) But I couldn't find any! The real first sign of fall
is people complaining, live, in print, and online, about pumpkin
spice. I don't know if they think it doesn't deserve all the
attention it gets or if they just want to be too sophisticated to get
involved. If you told them you liked Starbucks, they would say
everything there was overpriced and everyone there was a wannabe
hipster.
Last year, Frank Bruni, wrote in The New York
Times (“Will Pumpkin Spice
Destroy Us All?” October 17, 2017), “Lock the refrigerator, bolt
the cupboards and barricade the pantry. Pumpkin spice is here. . .
It happens insidiously: a zombie apocalypse, if the zombies wore
nutmeg cologne. And it really must stop.” He's probably waiting for October to produce the next rant.
There's nothing wrong with being bored
with pumpkin spice or not liking Starbucks. But there is something
mean spirited about trashing something you know makes other people
happy. Life is hard enough and reminding yourself that you are
better off than most of the world only makes you feel guilty.
JESUS ALERT! HERE COMES THE CHURCHLADY STUFF!
If the purpose of life is to glorify
God, how can Christians (or anybody) do that? One way is to truly
appreciate life. Or as I read in Facebook (those people probably
hate Facebook, too, except as a means to go after pumpkin spice or
Starbucks) “Love the crap out of whatever you love and don't let
anyone take it from you.” That's why I bought my Hello Kitty two
pocket file folder.
It's one thing to rain on someone's
Trick or Treat night about pumpkin spice or Hello Kitty. But the
real rainer-oners are those people who say God (any god; they just
aren't after Christians) and Heaven (or any life after death) don't
exist.
Why do they do it? Are they trying to
save believers from their gullibility? If a worn out target would
say, “OK, you're right. Now that my belief system and
my lifestyle are down the tubes, what can I do and what are you
going to do about it?” Maybe they can recommend one of those
trendy atheist churches.
But if they don't want to save us from
ourselves, why do they bother? Do they enjoy confusing people and
taking joy from their lives?
I think they are, as we used to say as
children, “Just jealous.” Since this is a Christian blog and
should set a good example, I won't add “Nah, nah, nah!”
How can we respond to the rainer-oners,
or to use a blunter word, haters?
I'm too tired to argue religion
anymore. As the old song says, “Haters gonna hate.” We can pray
for them. Frankly, I try to avoid them and limit myself to asking
God to straighten then out.
So love the crap out of your pumpkin
spice M & M's, hedgehog collection and The Hallmark Channel. Just don't forget God,
your neighbor and yourself.
