What does it mean to be thankful?

Thanksgiving is a time where we gather together with family and friends to celebrate the anniversary of the first Thanksgiving diner.  How many of us stop for a moment to think of what we are thankful for in our lives?  This seems like a simple question but if we had to name the things we are thankful for how many of us could easily come up with a short list?  For several years now I have made it an annual tradition to post to Facebook each day something I am thankful for during the entire month of November.  In the beginning the things I am thankful for are easy to list: my children, my mom, my dad (may his memory be a blessing), and the list goes on for about a week.  After the first 7 or so days I have to really pause and say, what am I thankful for that I have not already said?  I have to admit, it makes me reflect on my life and the things that I am truely thankful for.

This year I found a simple $3 item at the Target dollar section that was a tree with the word grateful at the bottom and a marker for you to write on the leaves what you are grateful for.  This was the coolest thing I have ever seen, would not have thought of on my own and, of course, I bought it.  My idea was to divide the number of leaves by the number of family members at diner this year and allow everyone an equal amount of leaves to write what they were grateful for.  It is simple but it is powerful and I will cherish this items for years to come.  What I found as I was the last to add my things was that the word family was a common item and one of my own.  Family is not just those who you are biologically related to it is also the people you chose to call family.

Family is something we tend to take for granted sometimes but as we grow older we realize how precious it really is.  As a kid, I remember having to go to two Thanksgiving meals, one with my dad’s family and then with my mom’s.  My dad’s family was my least favorite because my dad was the youngest of 9 children.  9 children, dozens of grandchildren and dozens of great grandchildren.  I was the youngest grandchild of 33!  Our family Thanksgiving was at my aunt and uncle’s church in the basement because it was the only place we could all fit and that had a big enough kitchen for my aunts and my mom to cook.  It was loud, it was crazy and it was BORING as a kid.  I did not look forward to it and could not wait to leave.  Now, as an adult I realize how lucky I was to gather with my large family year after year in one place to celebrate the holiday.

Then there was Thanksgiving with my mom’s family.  This was my favorite and the memories I cherish to this day.  My mom was one of 2 so it was just her and her sister and, where I was the youngest of 33 grandchildren in my dad’s family, I was the only grandchild.  My grandma cooked with my mom and aunt chipping in.  It was quiet and we could sit and just enjoy each others company.  Some years we would have some of the deputies that worked with my aunt stop in because grandma made plenty of food and opened her door to allow them to have a meal with us.  This is the Thanksgiving I have modeled my own after each year since I started hosting diner.

Reflecting back on my many Thanksgivings and all that I am thankful for really puts things in perspective.  The reality is that each day, no matter how bad a day could be, there is always something to be thankful for.  Somedays it comes easy to us like our family, our children, or those first 7 days of the month.  Somedays it is difficult to think of one thing that we are thankful for when the day has drained us and we just wonder why.  It is important, especially on those days, to find at least one thing to be thankful for because life is to precious and the reality is that someone else may look at you and think I wish I was in your place than in the place I am myself.

Each day is not promised, it is a gift and if nothing else be thankful for another day, another chance to change things, another chance to make a change and improve not just that day but the days to come.  It is a choice we have to make to find the things that matter to us, that we are thankful for in our lives and acknowledge them because when we don’t, when we take them for granted, we lose site of what is most important to us.  It is these things that give us purpose, that drive us, and that cause us to take action for the better not just in our world but in the world as a whole.

I hope you have a THANKFUL and WONDERFUL Thanksgiving!