Reflections

Americans celebrate Thanksgiving once a year, remembering those poor pilgrims who were just happy to be alive. So we, Americans, take it many steps farther, but how many remember the pilgrims when they sit down to eat?

My wise son, a freshman in college, on the subject of coming home for Thanksgiving said he didn’t think so, “isn’t it just a meal?” And it is just a meal, a meal that we have somehow made into a very stressful holiday.

It seems we are now celebrating the meal, how much and how well it is presented and we forget the Thanksgiving part. What we need to remember is to be “thankful” all year long. Psalm 95:2a and Psalm 100:4, 5 remind us about Thanksgiving. In Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your request to God.”

No matter how bad it is, how little we have, what has been taken away, we can be thankful. Thankful that in everything, He is our God, He loves us, and He cares for us, through all generations (like forever and ever).

When we sit down to a big dinner with too many friends and family and food, or sit in our dorms taking a much needed rest and eating cereal, we all can be equally thankful on this Thanksgiving Day and every day all through the year.

Thanksgiving is the antidote to worry, along with petition and prayer.