Tomorrow, many families all over the United States of America will sit down to eat a Thanksgiving meal together. It is a tradition that is as American as apple pie and baseball! By today, Wednesday, most consider the holiday to have arrived. Many schools are not in session on this Wednesday so families can have the time to travel if they need to do that. Businesses often let their workers out early so they too can get a head start on traveling if necessary. Turkeys are thawing in all households, either in the refrigerator or in the sink with cold water by now! These are all part of the Thanksgiving experience and part of my memories as far back as my mind can remember.
I read an article, though, the other day that said Thanksgiving, like Christmas, has lost some of its original intent. It is all about watching football and stuffing ourselves; and the idea of being thankful to the one, true, living God has been lost. Now, I don’t know how one can possibly know what goes on in all the homes across America to KNOW that for certain, but I can see how easily the holiday can be reduced to simply fixing a big meal and family getting together.
I would have to say even for me over the years when I was younger there wasn’t so much focus on being thankful as there was on serving the food while it was hot and who was coming and who was not. (Hmmm … that sounded a little Dr. Seuss like, didn’t it?) I remember the year that God ignited my heart and converted my life how differently I looked at Thanksgiving that year. I remember getting sections from a book to read aloud to everyone. It told of the harrowing journey the pilgrims had made. It told of the horrible conditions that they endured. It spoke of the large number of people who died trying to get over here and those who died in that first winter on American soil. I had each family member read a section aloud. THEN when we got to the part about their first successful harvest, how grateful they were that this year they would have food for the winter and that not so many of their company would die because of lack of food, Thanksgiving took on a whole new perspective.
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