Have you ever just had one of those, “Duh!” moments when you realize you’ve completely missed the mark about something entirely?

Those moments come in all shapes and sizes — at least for me — and range from silly things to more important ones.

On the sillier side of the equation, how many of us have been caught singing a song only to realize after the fact that we’ve completly misunderstood the lyrics?

It’s such a common goof that some wise guys created a website to celebrate misheard lyrics. The website, called kissthisguy.com, actually gets its name from a commonly misunderstood lyric from a Jimi Hendrix song, “Purple Haze.”

The site is filled with lots of funny goofs that ears played through the years.

But it’s not just song lyrics that we misinterpret.

We’re all human, and it’s easy to “Miss the forest for the trees,” as the old cliché goes.

Perhaps there’s no greater time of the year when that’s true than during the holidays.

As human beings, it’s sort of our nature to get accustomed to things so much so that we easily take things for granted.

Today is day three after Thanksgiving Day 2012 and over the last few days many Americans have given thanks for all of the blessings we have.

We’ve given thanks for being in a country in which we have the freedom to do as we please.

We’ve given thanks for the bountiful food provisions most Americans enjoy.

We live in a world with millions of truly poor people, many of whom wonder, not what they’ll eat for their next meal, but if that meal will come.

But we forget such things when we get caught up in the holiday rush. Many people spin themselves into a fit over old family drama or what they want from others instead of really thinking through what the season is all about in the first place.

Lots of, “Duh” moments abound around the holidays.

First and foremost, the holidays shouldn’t be about “us” in the first place.

Thanksgiving is a holiday aimed and being thankful for the blessings we have and, in a very large way, sharing those blessings with others.

In several weeks, we’ll celebrate Christmas, the holiday on which Christians celebrate the birth of Christ.

Just like the song lyrics that sound differently to our ears, it’s so incredibly easy to “mishear” the point of Christmas.

In our heads, we can convince ourselves that the lyrics of Christmas include material gifts, a bearded man in a red suit and lots of stress about looking just so and buying the perfect gift.

But that would be about as “off” as thinking that Jimi Hendrix sang, “Excuse me, while I kiss this guy,” back in 1967.

For me, the holidays — Thanksgiving and Christmas — can be boiled down pretty simply. For Christians, none of what we have — the turkey, the trees, the presents, our families, none of it — would be possible if not for God.

We can be thankful for all of the many things we have, but we should be mindful that none of it would be possible without Him.

 

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.