Thanksgiving 2017

I love when children get excited about a holiday. I wonder how many of them realize that those days set aside to celebrate something are holy days. Yup. I dragged out my old dictionary and that’s the first definition. A. Holy. Day. A day set apart for a reason. And we have one coming up. Thanksgiving.  Abraham Lincoln declared the third Thursday in November as a day for the nation to celebrate the bounteous harvest so graciously bestowed on us by God. To celebrate with thankfulness.

So – I’m perusing the local grocery store ad and emblazoned across the top of the page is this –Turkey Day! And the bounty was all on  sale.

You know I’m going to say something about that, don’t you? About a possible trend in Holy Day reduction. The origins and meaning of them, that is. Now, I’m one of the first to allow children free expression when it comes to their views on who, what, where and when to celebrate something. Turkey Day, the Easter Bunny, Fire Cracker Day etc. That suits until about the age of two. After that it’s time to go heavy duty on them. It’s time to begin the conversation about why.

God, not any human, provided the seeds that led to the harvest. God placed the sun in the sky to warm the soil. God sends the rain in due season to water the soil that sprouts the seed. And we tend that garden. That’s our part – to steward the earth and gather the resulting harvest.

God instituted the family. Mom, Dad, sister and brother. Showed us how to love each other. Brings us together to celebrate the bounty that the seed, the soil, the sun and the rain bring forth. Our part is to prepare the feast. See? We get to do something. How cool is that?

God designed turkeys. Magnificent, meaty, stuffable birds. Enough for everyone. Days and days of thankful eating.

Perhaps there are those whose thankfulness is re-directed by trends and the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker come more quickly to mind than God. Perhaps the idea of thanking an immortal, invisible God who is wise and loving, is foolishness to them. Or perhaps, you're one who celebrates a Holy Day with true thankfulness to God for your life and all that's in it.

If you do that – wonderful! If you don’t, it may be that someday you will. I’ll hope for that. In the meantime . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS: To be fair – the following week the grocery ad read 'Happy Thanksgiving". So there’s that. 

Photo: First pumpkin pie of the season. Yum. Hand over the whipped cream, Alice!