A bountiful dinner with aromas of turkey, cornbread stuffing and delicious home baked pies. All the family is present around the dinner table as the patriarch of the family gives the blessing and carves the brown oven-roasted turkey. One can hear the pleasure and excitement.
Yes, it is Thanksgiving and the first celebration of the holiday season. The very next day, shoppers will fill the shopping malls.
Strange. Holidays. Days that are filled with kindness, good cheer and merriment. In our hearts, we imagine that we are doing the obvious, to be thankful and hsare our blessings with one another. It seems so natural and the right thing to do -- to think of others and to reach out from the confines of our own being.
To Americans, Thanksgiving is part of the history of our nation, of brave people who sought out a new continent for simply a belief in a better world. The original settlers are long gone now; many died shortly after arriving at a new, cold land in the heart of winter.
While we are enjoying Thanksgiving with its Horn of Plenty at the center of the table, we should realize that the feelings we have of gratefulness should be extended out to others who want the belief to manifest in their own lives, but have not found the clue.
The clue is realizing that before we can extend the belief, we have to be appreciative of the gift that each of us share: Using our talents for the betterment of those with whom we share a bond and association. Without the belief in ourselves that we can succeed in anything to which we apply a sincere effort, we lose the greatest blessing in which to be thankful - the dream to make the most of our life. We have the gift of freedom to reach any goal we strive for and to share the result of that purpose with others.
In truth, the thankfulness we should have is in being able to live a life of freedom which cannot be expressed in a season, or a day once a year. It should take a lifetime.
As we approach Thanksgiving, it is our hope that on the day you do give thanks, that it is extended every time you experience a blessing - with your family, your friends, and that person down the road who has such a laborious road to travel. As you share your thankfulness to others, it increases your ability to partake in the belief of the first settlers whose bravery gave us a new country and a new way of life.
Love, C. Mecca