Yes, it is that time of the year! A preemptive rant!



 

 

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.