Giving Thanks

I woke up this morning almost like it was any other day. I had fallen asleep on the couch while watching Ocean's Eleven and my neck was, and is, rather stiff because of it. I got off the couch and made my usual rounds. Coffee is of course one of the first things I go for. My mom was (and is) cooking in the kitchen. I therefore acknowledged Thanksgiving's presence, but wasn't quite awake enough yet to realize that there was (and is) a holiday happening.

I sat back down on the sofa with my cup of coffee and a muffin and was happily greeted by my dog who generally pretends she loves me to get food. I sat and I thought, "There is something different." I started thinking. "Oh, It's Thanksgiving." I stopped to think about everything that I have. I started to feel a little sad because the more I looked around, the more I felt it was a little sick that I have so much and that others have so little. I am more than likely being too pessemistic, but when I look up into heaven where God is, I see justice, and when I look back down, I do not. I began to feel very bothered at the fact t hat I had so much.

My mom and I recently moved to North Carolina and so we have a brand new, lovely apartment. We really have made it beautiful, I can say. I have spent some serious time neglecting school to do some decorating. It looks good. We have bought new curtains and we have put great thought into what wall art goes where. I say this to say that I look around and all that I have is beautiful. Most everything hanging on my walls serves no purpose other than to be beautiful. And I think, "Wow, I technically do not need that, but I am able to make something beautiful because I am fortunate enough to have enough money to do so." It's a little baffling.

Thanksgiving is what you make it. A few years ago, I remember posting here and mentioning that I saw no point in Thanksgiving. And the truth is that I didn't! I looked at popular culture and I saw people getting ready for a Christmas without Jesus and eating food that made them fatter and fatter. I saw people getting together with their families that they really did not want to be with, and trying to small-talk over a meal when they would much rather be watching tv or out at a bar to aid in their misery of...having to see their family.

So, no, when looking at what others make of it, I didn't see anything. But both yesterday and this morning I thought to myself, "Maybe we need a holiday to remind us to be thankful." Even though we should be thankful every day, maybe we need time set aside to sit quietly and reflect on the state of the world and the wealth that we have in it.

My goal is to be thankful all the time, and I feel really that I am. It's not uncommon for me to sit and think about all I have, to be honest with you. And maybe it's because of that in me that I now think Thanksgiving is alright. But it is not about the holiday, really. The holiday, by popular culture standards, is about a lot of things. It is about seeing family, the pilgrams who took the land from the indians, about our country, about food. I can't really connect with all of these things. Mainly the pilgram and indian deal. I guess what I am saying is that I have connected with Thanksgiving in a personal way, and I think that is what it takes.

Thanksgiving is what you make it. My heart says this is what is important to me–––poverty, unjustice, western-wealth, social inequality. And because all of those things are so important to me, Thanksgiving means much more. Why? Because I know I am on the good end of those things. I've got the better end of the deal and I am thankful.

Application? Thanksgiving will be as much of a blessing to you as you acknowledge it to be. If you are moseying through it like many people are, then look for something to make it mean more. Find Jesus and His abundance in the little things, and keep that going long after today.