I already posted once today so if you receive this by email you will have to click through to read today's first post.
I had something else rattling around in my head today so what follows is an original Christmas Sunday Parable. You are welcome to re-post if you like with attribution and a link to this original post.
Let us suppose the whole world celebrates the birth of Ronald McDonald. The impact of McDonald's on the world has been so great that once each year the world marks his birth with a tremendous holiday.
The celebration starts small and builds steadily through the years. As McDonald's expands and is known and loved the world over, Ronald McDonald's birthday takes on wider significance.
Not every one loves McDonald's, but the influence of McDonald's is so great and so obviously positive that even detractors take part in the celebration each year. It is the world's holiday.
The anticipation for Ronald McDonald's birthday each year builds over many weeks.
School choirs sing songs in his honor. Mothers bake cookies. Grandfathers tell stories. Families cherish memories. Children wait with great anticipation.
Retail stores, greeting card companies, chocolate companies, jewelry stores and many others depend on Ronald McDonald's birthday celebration for much of their yearly profit.
Children of every language count down the days with visions of Happy Meals, Cheeseburgers, French Fries and all kinds of gifts dancing in their heads.
Families and friends gather together in every nation for great feasts of Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, Fillet O'Fish, French Fries and Apple Pies! Some locations even have McRibs for a limited time.
It is the biggest single day of the year.
Schools and businesses shut down.
Governments suspend their operations.
The whole world pauses one day each year to honor the birth of Ronald McDonald and the great institution that bears his name.
But for the purists, the true lovers of McDonald's, a disturbing trend develops.
It seems that many are celebrating just for the sake of celebrating. They send cards, they buy gifts, they have parties, they sing, they drink and they dance, but there is very little mention of the man that was born or the good things he brought the world.
The great holiday grows but it is apparent that the real reason for the jubilation has been trivialized at best and perhaps even forgotten.
Ronald McDonald's birthday is the biggest day of the year. There is not another holiday that even compares.
Yet most of the 7 billion people celebrating do not even darken the door of McDonald's on his special day.
That used to be different. Even though some people did not go much during the year, they used to always go to McDonald's on his birthday. Now there are too many parties to attend and too much fun to be had to bother with a trip to McDonald's that might require and hour or two of their precious holiday time.
Then the final blow. Many of the local McDonald's begin to close their doors on Ronald McDonald's birthday. The people were too busy celebrating his birthday to go to the very place that honors his name.
The holiday celebration goes on but the reason for the season has been relegated to fleeting acknowledgements and trite sentiments displayed with dubious expressions of sincerity.
Think about it a moment. Was your local McDonald's open today? If it was open, did you go?
Found In a Church Bulletin:
Please Remember the Reason for the Season.
There will be no church service Sunday.
See you next year!
I did notice that Waffle House was open all day.
Thank you for reading.
Davy Boggs
