Thanksgiving Indeed

Thanksgiving Day

 

Lots of food

lots of overeating

often lots of family

the annual Thanksgiving football games

 

That's what Thanksgiving day represents, to one degree or another, to most of us.  Yes, we take time to give thanks--most often while the hostess is wrapping up loading the table(s) down with way too much food.  And this is after the assorted snacks and appetizers have been consumed for quite a period of time by those who have arrived early.

 

What kind of thanks do we really give?  Is the prayer we offer at the dinner table one meant to be perhaps sensitive to those in presence who may not be believers or may be of a different religious belief?  Is our thanks profound or perfunctory, more obligatory than deeply felt?  Is there, in all of the confusion, any thanks given at all? Is the giving of thanks, in any form, even considered on this day or is it simply another holiday, albeit one that opens the Christmas season?

 

Perhaps on this Thanksgiving day, as we sit at the table to chow down on too much food, couldn't we consider making the following absolute considerations for topics to include in our prayers of thanks?:

• our family and friends
• our church and it's people
• obviously the food we have and are going to consume
• our servicemen for protecting our freedom
• the service and volunteer organizations who help those not as fortunate on this day
• God, who has given us so much, and most especially for His grace and forgiveness

Better yet, why not, after you start the prayer, ask all at the table if they would like to offer their own special thanks for what has impacted them in their lives the past year.  This could be done whether there are 4 or 25 at the table.  Talk about making the prayer and all inclusive one !

 

Thanksgiving is a day of many traditions, as varied as the families that celebrate it.  The one big common denominator in all of them is the fact that it is God who is ultimately responsible for who we are and what we have.  Can we at least honor that through prayer on this day, one not perfunctory or obligatory, or spoken by rote, but one that is truly one of the heart?

 

Think about it.  We do indeed have a lot to be thankful for.  Perhaps more than we may even realize.

 

Enjoy your Thanksgiving.