Mall-Walking

 Good morning !!

 During very hot or very cold weather, in order to get some kind of physical exercise I often will go to the mall that is nearest our house.  It’s also on the way home from work, and I will sometimes stop there in the late afternoon to get my walk in for the day.  The walk around the inside perimeter of the mall is right at a mile.  I only do the circuit once as I can’t go much more than that due to some physical deficits.  But that mile seems to be enough to keep me in some kind of physical condition better than nothing.

Towne West is a mall in decline, as many places like that are.  There are still a couple of anchors there…J C Penney and Dick’s Sporting Goods.  But Dillards has left, as well as Sears.  There are quite a number of empty store spaces in the mall, and during the weekday, there are usually as many or more walkers than there are shoppers in the public areas.

As I make the circuit, I notice when a new business has leased space and is remodeling the area so they can eventually open.  That happens at times, and it’s interesting to see what goes in.  I also notice when a business pulls out and is there no more.  The kiosks in the public areas will sometimes come and go as well.  And the holiday season brings out temporary businesses and kiosks, hoping to capture some of the holiday business.

Some businesses are open only certain days of the week.  Some just certain hours of the day.  No doubt that’s due to the limited customer base during the days and times they aren’t open.  I would think that would be kind of a self-fulfilling thing, however.  If businesses aren’t open, customers won’t come.  If customers won’t come, businesses aren’t open.  Seems to me to be sort of a round-robin type of thing.

Some places, though, seem to do a fairly good business regardless.  There’s a barbershop in the mall that always has customers, it seems, and more than one barber many times.  One of the jewelry stores seems to have customers who are doing more than “just looking” more often than not.  A massage business seems to always have one or more customers receiving what looks to me like very soothing massages.  And there’s an “outlet” type of store which is apparently doing fairly well.

A temporary business has moved in for the Halloween holiday, occupying a lot of space and having a lot…and I mean a lot…of Halloween-type stuff.  There seems to be a steady stream in and out of the store, so I’m thinking that it was something that was probably a good idea, at least for those who opened the business.

OK, so why am I talking about the mall, the businesses in it, and my walking in the mall on a routine basis?  Sometimes, I will start some music on my phone, which is connected via Bluetooth to my hearing aids.  I can hear it, but no one else can.  Most of the time I will either play a classical piece like Canon in D or Bolero, or something from Handel’s Messiah.  Yes, I know.  I’m an old person, and don’t have much appetite for some genres of music that others may like.

I was in the mood yesterday as I was walking for some of that music.  As I listened to the last two arias of The Messiah, I started looking around at the mall, the businesses, the people, and the environment.  There was, it seemed, a great disconnect between what I was hearing in “Worthy” and what I was seeing in the mall.

What was I hearing?  Handel pulled the words to “Worthy” out of Revelation chapter 5.  Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.

The majesty, glory, and unmatchable power of God in Jesus Christ outshone all that glittered and enticed in the mall at that moment.  A desire for things, a consumer economy, and other temporal things found in a mall setting are no comparison.

Paul the great apostle of the early church, in his letter to the Philippian church, rattled off a list of his accomplishments as a Pharisee and Jewish leader, along with his genealogy, which was of vital importance to the Jewish people.  He then said this about all that he was and all that he accomplished in life.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.  What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.  I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.

There is nothing wrong with shopping at a mall, or a stand-alone store, or on-line.  There is nothing wrong with having money or a comfortable home.  There is nothing wrong with going to a barber or beauty shop.

The problem comes when we place these things front and center in our lives and live for the next consumer “fix.”  We forget that one day we will stand before the God who created us and account for our lives.

OK.  Enough preaching.  I encourage you, though, to be certain your priorities are in the proper order and you understand and embrace what is truly important in life and living.

May you be blessed this week and this weekend as many of us take some time off and stand down for a short while to reflect on the bounty and blessing that is ours.

 

Blessings,