With Black Friday encroaching on Thanksgiving Day, Small Business Saturday, and perhaps Giving Tuesday, it seems like now, more than ever, we need to rethink our priorities. Does your penitence on Black Friday.

Those of us who worship in the Abrahamic traditions, including Jews, Christians and Muslims, believe we are created in the image of our Creator. While people may argue what that really means, to me a key aspect is that we were created in the image of a creator, not a consumer.

Small Business Saturday, to me is a little better than Black Friday. At least it encourages us to be a little less removed from the creators and the creative process. Giving Tuesday, is in my mind, a much better day. It reflects the sort of thankfulness that seems so much more real and honest. We are thankful for the wonderful things we have been given and are called to give to others as a response. It ties us back to our creator and to the giving part of Thanksgiving.

Yet I want to come back to being a creator. This is an important part of my daughter’s calling, to help us all become more in touch with our creative sides. She written a book about it, Don’t Make Art, Just Make Something. She promotes the hashtag #WhatIMake

This takes me to Makers Monday. There is a Makers Monday Meetup where makers gather to share ideas. Another group has launched Makers Monday as the Monday after Thanksgiving to buy American Made products. This feels a bit like Small Business Saturday, getting consumers closer to the creators, but not making that important step of becoming creators.

So, borrowing from my daughter’s book title, Don’t Just Shop, Make Something.