As we hear of almost daily mass shootings maybe we need to look at our lives and ask ourselves if we have lost our sense of priorities? Have we switched the price tags in our lives? Is it possible to go back once we’ve crossed the picket line?
There was a book written by Tony Campolo titled Who Switched the Price Tags? The story was told of some pranksters slipping into a department store right at closing time and playing a joke that caused great alarm the next day!
When the customers came in there was quite a stir as it came to their immediate attention that something had gone wrong somewhere!
The items that were assumed to have high prices such as wide screen televisions and entertainment centers were found with ridiculously low price tags and the items such as jig saw puzzles were marked with sky-rocket prices.
What had gone wrong? Surely this must be a joke.
Who played this prank can only be assumed but a great lesson came out of the story as it spread across the nation.
So many people talk about how we have lost our values in our society as we scramble working long hours to pay for the nicest homes and conveniences and in the end have little time to enjoy them at the end of the day.
On the other hand we often put low price tags on the more valuable items on our list.
The subject that comes to mind is our children.
How often our children’s needs are short changed when they are pushed out of our sight from dawn until dusk while we strive after the dollar?
What has happened to our price tags?
Could it be in this mad race that we have lost more than we have gained?
I particularly notice the senselessness of this race when I see backed up traffic by the fast food places.
Did the Waltons or Andy Griffith families eat this type of meal?
What the answer may be easier to say but harder to follow as children wander aimlessly into unwed homes seldom committing as in days gone by.
Is it ever too late to go back once we have crossed the picket line? It is interesting to note that the reader may still purchase Who Switched The Price Tags from Amazon from anywhere from one penny to seventy-three cents. Maybe this tidbit tells the moral of this story better than I can ever do with my own words. To bring my story home maybe we need to ask ourselves when selecting gadgets for our children “Would they rather have this or some unencumbered time?”
It’s still true that you can’t schedule quality time.
It’s so easy to leave God out of our busy schedules. What children mostly need
cannot always be articulated.
While in the orphanage, I remember how I turned my back when I saw children being hugged by their parents. Who can put a price tag on hugging or the ritual of kneeling with your parents in prayer? Some things cannot be bought or sold.
We aren’t aware of how quickly each day passes until our children are grown and our quality time has been used up in the mundane things that matter very little in the final analysis.
Someone said “life is what happens” but is that how we should live?
Sometimes less is more.
Where this will all lead we can only assume but I know it has to start one person at a time.
Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever and He always gets me to the right place at the right time.
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