Thanks for the 'givingness'

In a few days, the ovens will be heated, smokers will be flaming and last-minute errands for forgotten ingredients underway. The sports channels are double-checked for the football lineup.

The grand Thanksgiving family dinner is almost ready.

I have to smile when I hear people dissecting the holiday. It is not a religious, Christian, holiday as society is lead to believe. This food wasn’t there. That food shouldn't have been. Then there is the second-guessing of the political motivation for Europeans being there to begin with.

Thanksgiving has little to do with the political intent. It is about the people. It is about being thankful for making it through a very hard season.

What if the tradition of turkey and sweet potatoes started because that is what was available in the area? The tables were not laden with carved roast beef because cattle were few or non-existent at that time… Theoretically. We shouldn’t be surprised if the Thanksgiving table has changed since the original spread. Availability and taste in foods has changed. We have fewer families growing a sustainable garden and more who rely on the neighborhood grocery store.

I do wonder about the relationship of thankfulness and giving. Does real giving occur if you are not first thankful for what you do have? Consider how many times any of us have complained because we didn’t have the right flavor of pie, the casserole is made right or you don’t like turkey. Have we forgotten the importance of being thankful, of recognizing that few things are forever and we should value what we have while we have it.

Be less concerned about forgetting the gravy and enjoy the time with family and friends. The relationships are what makes the dinner special.

I have learned the best way to be thankful is to meet people who have so little compared to our own state. I remember a trip to Nicaragua, meeting families where the home and the stable are interconnected, the same dirt floor separated by a door in some sort of adobe wall. Other places, families built homes with what looked like campfire kindling; not a bad idea until the spring rains come. One of these experiences was at a church where the casual observer cannot be sure if the building is being demolished or rebuilt with part of a steel roof and walls that look like they were there from the invasion of the Spanish. Yet, these same people offered us “rich Americans” from what little they had, a type of rice pudding their children did not take of, at least not that afternoon.

It struck me that for as hard as many of us work for what we need, we are not thankful enough to give freely, to give out of thankfulness. Most of us, dietarily, would be ok if we missed a meal now and then, and the heart would see the day brighter if we miss that meal because we gave to someone in more need. If we express our thankfulness in giving to others in need, it will also multiply our thankfulness.

It is not about “Thank you God I’m not like them,” but “Thank you God for the resources to brighten someone else’s day.”

We just finished officially celebrating our veterans where we are encouraged to thank them every opportunity we get. It is a good practice. We should apply the same rule in daily life, be thankful for what time you have with those you have. Tomorrow is not promised. Value each moment, each ray of sunshine.