Well, it's that time of year again when the food comes pouring in from all directions and the pounds keep adding on and on and on. It's TURKEY TIME!!
Each Thanksgiving, thanks to the incessant commercials and advertisements regarding Black Friday, the parades, dog shows, football games and of course the food, we tend to lose track of the real reason for why we celebrate Thanksgiving -- we are to be THANKFUL, especially thankful for those who came to America to escape the religious persecution and helped paved the way for this land to become the United States of America.
As a kid in school, I vividly remember dressing up as Pilgrims or Indians, making necklaces out of hard noodles (that I used to try to eat -- ugh, the eating still hasn't stopped!), coloring pictures of turkeys and those horns-of-plenty (which I always thought were the dumbest things ever!). We were taught in our US History classes from grammar school right on up thru high school the importance of Squanto and the Indians and how they helped provide for the Pilgrims who came to Plymouth on the Mayflower (why they went to Massachusetts and not lovely North Carolina, I will NEVER know, haha!). But nowadays, you ask kids who the Pilgrims are and they look at you like you are crazy; you ask who the Indians are and they will associate them with the Harrah's Casino in Cherokee. It's amazing to see how our heritage and foundations are slowly beginning to fade. The focus is not on heritage, where it should be, but on things that 10 years down the road won't even matter.
Not only are we not realizing the heritage of our nation and being grateful for that, today, society as a whole has just forgotten how to be thankful, period! It's almost rare these days to even hear someone say "Thank you." Maybe I hear it more down in the South, where we are taught by our Momma's that we better express our manners. But even here, it's almost becoming a foreign concept. I've always been one that even if I'm in the drive-thru window at McDonalds, I will always say "thank you" because those people are working to serve and help us. What's wrong with expressing a little bit of gratitude? We take everything for granted these days and have come to expect things be handed to us on a silver spoon. Maybe this is what's wrong with America today -- bring back the gratitude attitude and see the nation change! (Okay, I won't got off on anymore rants, I promise!)
I am not saying there is anything wrong with Black Friday shopping, eating, watching football games, etc. because I will likely be out there doing it myself. But this Thanksgiving holiday, when you sit down to eat, thank God for the food that He provided you, thank your servants who prepared it for you; when you go shopping, say thanks to those who do your check-out. Let's all start a new revolution of bring "thanks" back in to our everyday lives. It never hurts to say thank-you.
Make a list of things you are thankful for this year; and then next Thanksgiving, look at the list and add to it. You'll see there are many, many things that we have to be thankful for.
I'm thankful for my parents; I'm thankful for my Saviour who died on the cross to save me of my sins; I'm thankful that I live in America - no matter who the President is, we should be thankful to live here and be so much better off than other places; I'm thankful for my homestate and all the wonderful places to go see; I'm thankful for our military and those who are willing to sacrifice their lives to protect us; I'm thankful for my dog, Zoey, who likes me no matter what (especially when it's time to eat!); I'm thankful for having a job this Thanksgiving and being in a place where I feel I make a difference and people actually care about me; I'm thankful for my friends & family who bring me job; and of course, I'm thankful for Women's Basketball, yes even UConn (they're not my # 1 enemy any longer, I have replaced them!)...okay I'll stop but I could go on and on with things I am thankful for.
I wish each and everyone of you a blessed Thanksgiving season. May you find many reasons to be thankful for, may you find plenty of good shopping deals, may your favorite sports team win, and may your turkey be as fulfilling as it can possibly be so at the end of the day, you are gobbling and wobbling!!
