We are approaching our national holiday known as Thanksgiving day. Some folks call it Turkey Day, others think of it as the start of the Christmas season. But Thanksgiving day is what I call it. It is a day on which we, traditionally, give thanks to God for what we have. But have you noticed? The people who have less, or nearly nothing, are generally the most grateful? It seems like someone in production messed up.
The original holiday, beginning nearly 400 years ago, was meant to be a day of fasting and prayer. Think about that for a moment. It turned into a modest meal,with people who were truly thankful to be delivered from the hands of a monarch, into the hands of God.
Fasting and Prayer. Yet we, in our strange and often bizarre twists, have turned it into a tribute to gluttony. We fill up on turkey (or sometimes ham), cranberries, potatoes, yams, rolls...and don't forget the pumpkin pie. We get 2, 3, sometimes 4 helpings...then go take a nap or watch football.
Where is the gratitude? How have we, in our "American" style, turned this into something it was not meant to be?
Be grateful for what you have? What if you have nothing? This is what I stated earlier. People with little to nothing are often more grateful than we who have shelter, jobs, money, pets, vehicles. Maybe it is because we take so much for granted.
So, we pig out. We eat in a manner that would amaze the obese, appall those of modest means, and shock royalty. We eat of Nebuchadnezzar's rich food, and we enjoy it. It is a sad testimony of our beliefs.
So, while you chow down on your third piece of pie on Thanksgiving day, remember the true provider of the feast. And ask yourself this: Why do we restrict our thanksgiving to God to one day a year?
Indeed, that is a question we all need to answer...that, and of course, how we're going to work off our weight gain.
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