J.L Bailey is an unclassified graduate student. He can be contacted at [email protected].In two days, we celebrate Thanksgiving. This day unites families as homes are decorated with harvest themes and stoves are running overtime preparing for Thursday’s traditional meal.
Such food as turkey, cranberries, candied yams, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie are associated with this special holiday. On this holiday, many families prepare a Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, and catch up on family news while others watch a football game or a parade filled with pilgrims, Native Americans and large Disney character balloons.
What is Thanksgiving Day all about? Do we view it as a time to offer gratitude and thanks, or is it merely a day of eating, partying or watching sports?
The origins of Thanksgiving are often forgotten amid constant bombardments of commercialism, sales pitches and media hype.
Can you imagine the multitude of difficulties faced by those who came from England to establish our first colonies?
In August 1620, the Mayflower, a 180-ton ship, set sail from Southampton, England. After difficulties with the vessel resulting in her return to port, finally the voyage began. Her 103 passengers were to become some of the founding pilgrims of the United States.
After weeks of plowing through the tumultuous Atlantic waters, battling strong winds, pounding waves and a number of problems with their vessel, the pilgrims spotted Cape Cod, off the coast of Massachusetts. The stormy weather caused their ship to veer off course and arrived there by accident. Their intended location was off the Virginia coast, where other pilgrims had begun colonies.
They encountered a severe and trying winter. Of the original 103 pilgrims, only 56 survived the first, long, bleak New England winter.
The approaching spring offered new hope. The survivors built homes and planted crops. After reaping their first harvest in the fall of 1621, the pilgrims dedicated a day for thanking God for the bounty they had received.
The pilgrims endured and flourished through those initial hardships and suffering. They learned the meaning of gratitude.
At this time of year, personal reflection on gratitude creeps into the crevices of my mind. Often I realize how poorly I practice it.
A few questions seem worthy of thought: Do we live in gratitude for all the things we have? Do we live in gratitude for all the people who touch our lives?
In its best form, gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. I have heard it stated this way: “It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is ‘Thank you,’ it will be enough.”
Gratitude is a way of living in this world that goes beyond thank-you notes and lists of things for which to be thankful.
There are those among us who may believe there is very little to be grateful for. Life or family circumstances overwhelm and this time of year renews open wounds and obscures a clear sense that life contains thanksgivings. Some people may not go home to parents greeting them with open arms, or tables with abundant food and a sense that everything is safe and secure.
I will not, therefore, offer a simplistic pep talk that includes the phrase: “Everything will be all right.” We unfortunately encounter circumstances in our lives when things are just not all right, and may not be for a while.
Recently, I read an essay by Suzelle Lynch who said, “When the difficulty has passed, when the pain has lessened and the tears are gone, when acceptance and healing have begun, then gratitude may creep in. Sometimes we begin to understand the difficulties we have experienced. Hopefully, we can look back in gratitude and see how our pain has schooled us in resilience and refined our character.”
The process of becoming grateful for the hard stuff of life takes a long time, I believe.
Think about it. Have you found ways to be grateful for difficult people or circumstances?
As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving, may we remember that gratitude is also about thanking those around us.
During this week, thank someone who deserves but rarely gets your thanks.