I hadn’t planned on writing anything specifically for thanksgiving but here I am. I am spending today with family and not adding to my blog but I felt this was something I should write. I refuse to spend a lot of time on it so you’ll have to forgive the poor (er than usual) writing and any misspellings. I’m anxious to get back to my family so I’ve allotted myself 15 minutes to get this done.

So what triggered this unexpected outburst? I was watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when one of the commentators commented that this (meaning the parade) was what Thanksgiving was all about. Now, I realize he didn’t mean that literally but for many of us it has become more about the parade and turkey than anything else.

As for what it is supposed to be about, well, duh. The answer is in the name: thanks giving. So with that out of the way, what are we giving thanks for and to whom? That, I think, is where some of us part company. Many believe and, in fact, most schools teach that thanksgiving originated with the Pilgrims as a celebration of the harvest to thank the Indians for teaching them domestic agriculture. While that makes for a nice, tidy story that conveniently skirts any mention of God, it simply isn’t true.

You only have to look as far as the whole purpose of the pilgrim’s journey to know what they were about. The part of the Mayflower compact that talks about the purpose of their very journey begins “Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith…” It was ultimately about the freedom to practice Christianity based on biblical principals and not the political ones laid down by the Church of England.

Their thanks giving feast was one of thanking God, not unlike the ancient Hebrew and, indeed, modern Jewish celebrations of Succoth and Passover. Their journey was a hard one and approximately half of them died that first winter. Think about that for a moment. You embark on a brutally difficult journey to a new land with a group of people and after months at sea you arrive, only to watch one out of every two of your companions die unpleasant deaths. And life didn’t grow significantly easier for them in the ensuing months either. And yet there they were, throwing a feast thanking God for what they have. Um, wow.

We’ve begun a tradition in my family where each day in November each of us writes down one thing we are thankful for and we review those on thanksgiving. While I think that is an important lesson for the kids (us too for that matter), I look now at the things on our lists as I consider how thankful they were for what little they had those many years ago and it is a bit embarrassing in contrast. It really highlights the indulgent lifestyle we have and just how much we have to be thankful for. The impoverished and homeless here have it far better than those at the top of the Pilgrim’s hierarchy.

Every day in America should be thanksgiving. So instead of gorging on turkey and watching the parade, shouldn’t we find a few minutes to thank God for all he has given us? Is saying grace at the table really sufficient? Look around you and consider then do whatever you feel is right. At least for me, the prayer over the meal doesn’t begin to cover it.

Well, I am off to the family again. Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. I sincerely hope each of you have a blessed Thanksgiving and may God continue to bless you and yours in the coming months.

/g