Thanksgiving is one of those special holidays. The warm and fuzzy kind. It’s an opportunity to share the day with amazing friends and family. We can eat an enormous amount of unbelievably rich and highly caloric food with absolutely not an ounce of guilt (what’s not to love about that?). It’s the day we sit back and enjoy all things that are good in life. Most of us take the time to ponder and share with those around us what we are truly thankful for.
But did you know this celebration became a United States Holiday in the midst of the Civil War? President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a National Celebration in 1863 dead in the center of our nations most bloody divisive time in history.
Since the states weren’t united seems unlikely that another “United States” Holiday would be added to the calendar. In addition to that a holiday set aside just to be thankful. I would think many people that had lost those they loved believed they had little to be thankful about. They were in the midst of a tearing apart of a nation with brother literally fighting brother.
Yet I think he did it for this reason. In the most difficult and divisive of times focusing on what we have to be thankful for completely changes our life view. Not only does it make us remember the good things, the good times, it offers us hope. Hope for today and hope for tomorrow.
We are reminded of past heartbreak and the healing we’ve experienced. We are reminded of those we care so dearly about that may be with us now or gone on to eternity awaiting our arrival. We ponder the richness gained from each of those in our lives.
May we hold to hope for the future of this life’s journey. Let us be thankful for each new day. Every morning as the sun rises in the east let us remember we are being offered a fresh start we are being given new opportunities.
So, this week, amidst the friends, family and food remember it doesn’t matter how difficult life is. It doesn’t matter what struggles we are facing, we have so much to be thankful for.
If President Lincoln thought it was worthy of celebration when he was facing life’s most difficult battles so should we. So, Happy Thanksgiving, my friends, you make my life richer and for that I am so very thankful.