First, Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Things may look bleak right now in many ways.
Covid-19 is taking lives and livelihoods every day. Friends and family are affected by job loss, income loss, and lives lost. It’s hard to be thankful for anything when these hit us so close to home.
Our culture is severely divided along ideological lines. It’s not just right vs. left or Democrats vs. Republicans. It’s son vs. father, daughter vs. mother. There are many households that are fractured during a season where joy and thanks should be the hallmarks.
Issues that surround the differences in skin color have been cut open and are bleeding in our streets. For many people, particularly white Americans, this has come as a surprise. They had thought that this issue had been settled in the 60s. In fact, racism had just been covered up. It still festered like an untreated infection until the poison came to a head and exploded.
Native Americans remember this day with great sorrow. Many take this day for “reflection and mourning for Lives Taken.” Others celebrate the harvest in order to remember what Thanksgiving is truly about.
Yet, here I am encouraging everyone to embrace Thanksgiving.
Not as the cultural holiday that it has morphed into.
But, so that we may express Gratitude.
It’s easy to sit around a table laden with all sorts of seasonal goodies. We can gorge ourselves on turkey and dressing, pie and cream. Then, sit in our living rooms watching football and feeling content.
Gratitude is not the same as feeling content. Feeling content is more akin to feeling satisfied.
Satisfied in how well I and my family fare so that we can afford this meal with all the trimmings. Satisfied that I can watch a game on my 50″, super HD television while seated in my padded recliner in the warmth of my heated home.
I don’t want to judge anyone. I’m going to do the same thing today. With, maybe, a nap thrown in for good measure.
There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with feeling content.
We must, however, remember that the feelings we have are not truly gratitude.
Perhaps we can be grateful for the resiliency of humankind.
We are stretched almost to breaking by the pressures of the pandemic and the culture and politics and the economy and, and, and….
Yet, we do not break. We find ways, not just to cope, but to overcome. Our lineage still hearkens back to our first forbears, including Lucy. These beings adapted and overcame obstacle that could have caused extinction. There are many examples of hominin species that did not survive. Ours, thankfully, did. Their survival and continued existence through many changes and forms seems to have engrained in us that same will to survive and thrive.
So, thank you Lucy!
We can be thankful for our friends and family. Especially, those of us who are difficult to love. People still put up with us. One or two actually seem to like us! Holy Crap!
So, thank you to all. (You know who you are!)
The food and shelter that so many take for granted are truly reasons to be thankful. Through science and sweat we have surpluses of grain, fruit, meat, and fish. We have technology that allows us to build and maintain housing in cities and suburbs. We are able to pipe water into our homes and, pipe our waste out. Gas, electricity, and telecommunications are things that we take for granted. We should not. These are things that we should be particularly thankful for.
So, thank you to the scientists, engineers, and laborers who make these things possible.
I could go on about specific things that we may be grateful for. But, I don’t want to sit here typing all day. There are turkey and potatoes calling my name!
I do want to say thank you to One more Person.
How can I express my gratitude to the One Who has given more than any other could possibly give?
Call this Person God if you like.
Love and acceptance are difficult for us humans. We find ourselves trying to condition our offering of these to others. “They aren’t like us,” we say. So, whoever ‘they’ are don’t receive those from us. “They talk strange,” or “They worship differently.” These difference seem to give us license to treat them as “Other” or “Less than.”
Yet, a Merciful God did not consider us as “Other.” God did not think of us as “Unworthy” or “Less than.”
God chose to Love us instead.
And, not only us!
God chose to Love the earth and the cosmos and the entire universe.
This should serve us as the Ultimate Example of how we should express our gratitude toward God, our families, and our communities.
And, not only these.
Perhaps during this season of thankfulness and joy we can take a minute to consider how we have benefitted by being a part of the Cosmos.
Thank you, God!
And, thank you for reading this.
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