Thanksgiving – Giving thanks in 2009
Thanksgiving – Giving thanks in 2009
378 years ago this week, in 1621, a group of Pilgrims threw a feast which lasted for about three days. Joining them were King Massasoit of the Wampanoag Indians and about 90 of his braves.
This feast was one of sincere thanksgiving for having endured the winter and summer in their new land. Had it not been for the Wampanoags helping the new settlers, historians may be hunting for their history like they are some of the early settlers in North Carolina at Ft. Raleigh. Weather you presume the Pilgrim feast was the first Thanksgiving or any one of several in the new colonies, the tradition of giving thanks endures, as it should.
Unlike our meals today, their meal was simpler. The historical record shows that their meal had a lot of water fowl, deer and was heavy on the meat side of the food pyramid. Chances are there were few vegetables and most certainly no turkey, pies, or veggies like those that most likely adorned your tables yesterday. Yet, in their simple way, they gave thanks and were happy.
Thanksgiving has evolved. Like the changes and additions of the modern menu, so are the things which we have reasons to give thanks for. Yet, how many take our freedoms and things we are so benevolently given and blessed with for granted? It’s never too late to say thanks for what we receive. You don’t have to wait until a set day in November to give thanks for the benevolences of other people or of a benevolent God.
Friday is called Black Friday. This is the day that all the stores are falling over themselves and each other to remind us just how few days we have left to spend all our cash and max out our credit cards for Christmas spending. These are the stores that tell us how much glitter and lights we need to have on our tree and how big our tree needs to be. That is, if we let them.
For those few merchants that haven’t been hawking their Christmas wares since mid September, this is the time to join with the rest of the selling world in reminding us how much we need to spend on presents, decorations and more food for this season…and anything else they can unload in our cars.
All this in remembrance of a baby, found in a manger, in swaddling cloths, somewhere in the spring of what is estimated to be about 3 BC. We’re not given the actual birth date of the Christ child and perhaps for good reason. There is no dispute that December 25’s origins have nothing to do with the birth of Christ or much of anything to do with anything associated with Christianity. In fact, like the Easter Egg and Bunny, the events originally celebrated on December 25th come right out of old pagan mythology.
Yet, when we look around us now at all the hype, glamour and glitter, and compare it with the simple, humble birth of the babe in a manger, one has to really wonder if our priorities really match His. Clearly the historical record of his life show little in terms of last minute shopping at Macy’s or Penney’s for those last minute items, yet His gift to us is probably the greatest gift one could receive. And one you won’t find “on sale now at Sears”.
So as we enter this season of Thanksgiving, let us not forget to give thanks. Not only for the comforts and material things we enjoy, but also for things yet to come that we don’t and can’t understand until the day in which we personally give thanks to the Giver of the greatest gifts, who’s humble and simple beginnings we remember, year round.
I’m Don Rima and that’s the way I see it, From Where I Stand.
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