Thursday, November 27, 2014

Remaining Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving day. We all know what that means and what is expected. A whole bunch of food and family. In modern jargon, it's all good. It is a wonderful tradition. No matter the real story behind it all, or the modern day naysayers bemoaning the fate of the natives, history has a way of rewriting itself. The word of the the day is Thankful. This is a day to give thanks. A day to offer our supplications to our creator. That was the original intent and has been expanded to include everyone. Nothing wrong with that, we all need reminders.
I am surprised that the politically correct and  non believers in this country have not started to complain. After all, it is a tradition based on Christian values. Thanksgiving day was to honor God ! It was one method of educating the natives to European thoughts on religion. I'm sure it was also a celebration of having survived by the Pilgrims. I know, they weren't really Pilgrims, never mind about that. What is of importance was the intet. I do think that intent and meaning is slowly being lost. Thanksgiving is shifting to the day before Black Friday more than anything else. It has been a number of years now that the major retailers do business on this day. As few as twenty years ago that would have been unheard of. Public opinion would have destroyed that idea. It is a shift in social conscience. It began with Sunday. The day the Lord himself rested and the disrespecting of that day has been spreading to others ever since. God removed from the social conscience. And we wonder what is happening in America ? Coincidence or chance ? Well, we are each entitled to our beliefs.
For me today is a day to thank the Lord. To thank him and all that he has created. That encompasses everything. It is a celebration. We should celebrate with our fellow man that God has allowed us another year. We should be grateful for his mercy. Just as Jesus broke bread with his disciples we should symbolically break bread with our fellow man. A mutual communion. Expressing our gratitude and good fortune. That first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims shared their gratitude with the natives could be looked at as the first time this nation came together. The europeans and the natives on one soil. What has transpired since that first celebration can be analyzed and judged in many fashions indeed. Irregardless, we should be thankful. We could not have survived that first winter or year if not for a merciful God. It was his will. Everything that happened afterwards may not be necessarily what he wanted but he also gave us free will. The question is , have we remained thankful ?

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