Thankfulness

As we come upon Thanksgiving I have been thinking about my life and how blessed I truly am and in some ways how easy my life is compared to that of others. Alyssa and I have been reading a book about the pilgrims' journey to America and their life those first few years in America. It's a book geared towards elementary children so it doesn't go into great detail but it does talk about the persecution, hunger, fear, sickness & death the pilgrims went through while they were in England and then suffered to come to America. I can't imagine living through a winter with hardly any food to eat & people dying almost every day, including your own family. All to find the freedom to worship God in their own way.

Tonight we read about the Pilgrims celebrating their first Thanksgiving. When they saw the abundance of the harvest, their first thoughts were to give thanks to God and they actually chose to celebrate for a week to give God thanks. They were coming upon winter again and even though they had more food, they knew winter was a difficult time with sickness, cold & still the possibility of not having enough food by the end. Yet, they chose to give thanks, invited many many extra guests and put on a lavish feast that lasted 3 days!

In my younger years I have to confess Thanksgiving was one of my least favorite holidays. Growing up I didn't like turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie or cranberries. So, I didn't like Thanksgiving. As an adult I can't say that I like those foods all that much better (although I am more willing to eat them) but I do like the holiday a lot more because I've caught the spirit of WHY we celebrate Thanksgiving. It's not so much about the food as it is about truly being THANKFUL and giving God the glory.

This year, more than most, has made me realize all I have to be thankful for and has given me maybe a bit of a reality check. Between watching my sister agonize over decisions that need to be made for her son & listening on a caring bridge site to another mom's agony over losing her 6 year old daughter this summer, I continue to be reminded to cherish my kids, cherish my husband, cherish my life, hold on to God & to not get so bent out of shape by the little things of life.

This month I wanted my kids to catch a little bit of the spirit of Thanksgiving so we began writing down what we were thankful for each day on a leaf and made a Thanksgiving tree of sorts using our mantel to hang leaves. At first, the kids had a hard time thinking of something to be thankful for but as the weeks have past, they have gotten better about thinking of something without a lot of prompting from me. It has been interesting to hear what they are thankful for.

We plan to read them all off on Wednesday and have a little time as a family to thank God for all his blessings. My hope is that this month of thanksgiving will help all of us be more aware of our blessings and we will remember to be more thankful throughout the year!

God bless you all this Thanksgiving and I pray you will remember all that God has done for you the past year, even in the midst of the trials, and find your ways to celebrate and be THANKFUL!