The True Meaning of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving. Ask anyone what it means and it’s likely you will get an assortment of different answers. To children, it is remembering the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag. Thanksgiving is also turkey, stuffing, cranberry jelly, pumpkin pie and green bean casserole. It is stuffing yourself (along with your turkey) until you feel the need to unbutton your pants or lie down on the living room couch. It’s tryptophan, making you sleepy as the afternoon wears on. It’s football, played for endless hours, both on television and in backyards across America. It’s a parade in New York City, with overblown floats, giant balloons and smiling television personalities making inane banter in between holiday commercials.

Let’s get back to the real meaning of Thanksgiving. Break it down to its most simple terms: Giving thanks. How many of us take the time on this holiday to really give thanks for our blessings? We might do a quick survey around the dinner table, asking each person what they are thankful for, but who really wants to delve deeply on this when there are mashed potatoes and pearl onions and gravy getting cold.
I’ve been thinking about my blessings a great deal lately. Three years ago, I joined a woman’s bible study group. We meet every Wednesday morning and discuss a designated lesson (this year’s lesson is Genesis). Each year my group has changed, and though I miss some of the people I’ve been grouped with in the past, I enjoy the opportunity to meet new women, each of whom gives a unique perspective on the lessons.

What’s grown out of this weekly bible study is my willingness to pray for others. In the beginning, I felt awkward telling people that I would pray for them when a family member was sick or a job was lost. It was “safe” to say that to the women in my group, but to my friends and acquaintances? To strangers? Would they think I was a zealot? A “holy roller” or a “bible thumper”?

With each passing year, the phrase, “I’ll pray for you” has become easier to say. No one looks at me sideways or thinks less of me (and if they do, I really don’t care). People are now asking for prayers on behalf of others. Even my agnostic husband is offering up my prayers to help his friends in need.

What does this have to do with giving thanks? I’m getting to that. With so many prayer requests, inevitably I find myself saying a prayer of thanks for my own blessings. Currently I’m praying for several friends who are out of work, which reminds me of how blessed my family is that my husband found a better job situation this year. Praying for children who are sick or undergoing surgery makes me thankful that my own children are relatively healthy. People who ask for prayers due to an unhappy marital situation reinforce the blessing of my own marriage. Praying for friends who have lost a parent prompts me to thank God for every day that my own parents bless my life.

Don’t get me wrong. I complain about my life. My husband and I argue, we stress over money, my kids drive me crazy at times and I often grouse about the state of my life. But when someone I know takes a minute to ask me to pray for them or someone else, I can’t help but pause and reflect on just how blessed I really am. That oft used phrase then comes to mind: There but for the grace of God go I.
Because it isn’t luck or good fortune or good works that gives me the blessings I have. It’s grace.

So on Thursday, when you take a break from football to gather around the table, take a look at those around you, take a moment, and reflect for just a moment on all that you have to be thankful truly for.

Happy Thanksgiving.