Second Thoughts – Meditation in a Mall

Greetings Dear Reader,

Sometimes I will end the day with thoughts that are important to get out.  Usually I just write them and put them in my journal folder.  I have chosen that on occasion I will share them with you Dear Reader.

I rarely visit a mall anymore.  I find them discomforting.  They seem too much like shrines to self-centeredness.  I went to one today out of necessity.  I was reminded why I stay away.

Meditation in a Mall the day after Christmas

By Aramis Thorn

October 9, 1995

I walk among the hurried returners, burdened, 

Snatches of conversation filter through my brain.

People speaking their hearts in a crowd,

Because they assume, that they are alone again.

One woman complains about the gift her husband gave.

A child whines that the toys do not meet his liking.

A teenage daughter exchanges all the wrong clothes for the right ones.

None of them are aware of the Gift that is there for the taking.

The Salvation Army lady still rings her bell,

But it tolls not the message of the King, and why he came

Instead its asks a lost world to give life out of its death,

And thanks them for their contribution as the move along, unchanged.

In the midst of this bedlam, I would be a beacon of hope and peace,

But there are so many and I am only a man with things to do.

Heart failing, I sit to rest, on the bench next to me, a voice asks,

“Could you tell me? What does Christmas really mean to you?”

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."