The Reason For Thanksgiving

In our home we love Christmas. We are the kind of people who pull down our Halloween decorations and put up our Christmas tree. I mean I figure if we are going to all the work to decorate the house we might as well enjoy it for a couple months.

It’s not that I don’t like Thanksgiving, I actually really enjoy it. I mean what’s not to like about good food and time with friends and family? Although, to be honest, I have to admit sometimes the Thanksgiving holiday seems to get overlooked.

This year it seems like that has especially been true for me. As I looked at other holiday blog postings and Black Friday ads I couldn’t help but feel like I needed to start preparing for Christmas. So Christmas has taken a front seat and Thanksgiving moved to the back of my priorities.

However, as I was planning for this blog post, which I had originally planned to be a DIY Christmas gift idea I realized I would be posting it Thanksgiving Day. Something didn’t feel quite right about that to me. I couldn’t let Thanksgiving be out shown by Christmas again in my life.

For most of my life when I thought about Thanksgiving I would think about the Pilgrims and the May Flower. I would think of the Indians sharing their food with the settlers and of course the Thanksgiving feast, but that’s not what Thanksgiving is really about.

In 1863 when Abraham Lincoln gave his Proclamation declaring Thanksgiving a holiday he said,

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.

That is what Thanksgiving is really about.

It is about giving thanks to our Father who is in Heaven. It is about remembering all the blessing he has bestowed on us throughout a year.

I have felt particularly blessed this year. How grateful I am that I live in a nation that has set apart a day that is dedicated to the sole purpose of giving thanks for those blessings.

As I sit here writing I am overwhelmed by all the things that I have to be Thankful for this year. I hope that you all find time to think about the blessing you have received this year. Enjoy this day of thanks and have a Happy Thanksgiving!