This is my favorite time of year. I have always loved Thanksgiving more than any other holiday. Even as a kid, I remember how much I enjoyed getting together with family and laughing, eating, and playing some football in the back yard. As an adult I have reflected on why I enjoy the holiday as much as I do. There is nothing particularly special about turkey or stuffing or sweet potato casserole. They are all delicious, but so is deep dish pizza and we don’t have a holiday where that is the main dish (Maybe we should).
So what is it about Thanksgiving that appealed to me even as a child? Christmas afforded the same kinds of things for a kid. We still got together and spent time with one another. There was still food and family and laughing. But somehow the spectre of presents overshadowed everything else. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and did as a kid as well. I even reached a point where I recognized that the presents weren’t really what it was about! However, Thanksgiving was my favorite, I think, because of the simplicity of it. It was just time spent with my loved ones, some of whom I did not get to see nearly as much as I would have liked.
I don’t know how your family celebrations went, but after we had prayed for our meal and before we began to eat, we go around the table and say out loud the thing we are most thankful for. That sounds like a silly thing, really. Except that it isn’t. It forces you to think about all the things you have to be thankful for. If you are like me, there are a lot more than you realize.
For me, they look like this:
I’m thankful for my family. I have two wonderful parents who are approaching 40 years of marriage. I have sisters and brothers who are kind, caring, and thoughtful people. I have a wonderful wife and three beautiful daughters. I have a warm house, plentiful food, a great job, and a loving church family. I have the love of an awesome God and the salvation that comes with it. I live in a country where I can enjoy the freedom to live and worship as I please. When the leadership in our country changes, they do so peacefully and there are not violent coups that result in deaths and fear. It is not perfect, but it is great because of the way it deals with those imperfections.
Jim Harbaugh, the coach of the Michigan Wolverines football team has a saying that was taught to he and his siblings by his father. His father would ask them, “Who’s got it better than us?” They would respond with, “Nobody!”
That is how I feel when I really think about all the things for which I should be thankful. Thanksgiving can be a really hard time of year. It can be a time when we are struggling with the loss of loved ones. Maybe we are struggling financially with the Christmas season looming. Perhaps the cold, dreary weather has us down. Regardless, it is valuable to take time and reflect on the things for which we can be thankful. Even in the darkest times of our lives, I truly believe that we are able to find those things when we look for them. We have a lot to be thankful for, and I am glad for the opportunity to spend time with my family and be reminded of it.
What are you thankful for?