Thanksgiving is not just a day

As millions of Americans travel and look forward to sitting down on this Thanksgiving Day, many will eat until their gut is full. Turkey, ham, and mashed potatoes will be consumed and football will be played or watched. As Americans celebrate this Thanksgiving Day as a holiday, do we really understand the significance of giving thanks?

The origins of Thanksgiving are well storied and documented in our cultural conscience. Picnic tables of Native Americans and European settlers sharing corn, turkey, and bread come to mind. However, the reality of the first Thanksgiving was much more dark and difficult.

Most of those who celebrated the first Thanksgiving were English religious dissenters in 1621. Many traveled to America on just a word or hope of a better life. Long voyages, illness, and harsh winters left many to die.  To come through such a journey led to giving thanks.  We only have a handful of first hand accounts of what the first Thanksgiving was like. After a drought, William Bradford wrote in 1623:

And afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing. For which mercy, in time convenient, they also set apart a day of thanksgiving… By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine now God gave them plenty … for which they blessed God. And the effect of their particular planting was well seen, for all had … pretty well … so as any general want or famine had not been amongst them since to this day.

Being fully dependent on the land for food puts one’s priorities into perspective. For us modern people, we simply go to the supermarket for turkey, corn, and mashed potatoes. We do not eat based on weather conditions and harvest time. For some Americans, they are more concerned scoring the Black Friday deal of the year than what it means to give thanks.

The reality of being thankful cannot be epitomized into just one day. The act of thanksgiving is a daily work. Acknowledging the source of everything you have and own is something that requires a theological perspective. In scripture, the act of giving thanks is mentioned 80 times.

The act of showing gratitude is not meant to be devoid of divine recognition.  The very history of Thanksgiving Day was an acknowledgement God’s provision in a time of uncertainty. The capacity to be thankful in times of plenty and want is a spiritual discipline.  We could always have it worse. We could be homeless, on the front lines of war, or live in a country where we are not free. Giving thanks is a daily perspective of what we have and not what we do not have.

The Greek philosopher Epictetus once said,

“He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

Thanksgiving, as a holiday,  is one day. However, the act of giving thanks should be everyday. We do not need a turkey, stuffing, or cranberry sauce to help us be thankful. We simply need to look around at what we have. We simply close our eyes and thank God for what we have and pray that God may bless us more.