Thanks Giving is perhaps my most favorite Holiday. Unlike Christmas which has moved to the very commercial and in many ways moved on, at least in the United States, from celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, Thanks Giving remains very true to its origins.
Like July 4th, Thanks Giving is an uniquely American Holiday. This day commemorates the American Spirit of Gratitude and often brings families together that have otherwise been away for a long time. I believe Gratitude is the single greatest gift that can be given. When you receive things and are grateful, you not only inspire the giver to give more, but you are allowing the giver to know just how appreciated the gift was.
There are a great number of traditions associated with the Holiday and of those my favorite is the “Giving of Thanks”. In my family before the grace is said we all gather in a circle holding hands and one by one announce something we are thankful for. Sure you have the people who are thankful for the great food and the good cooking. The credit usually goes to grandma, though as the years pass my parents and aunts and uncles get to take more credit. It won’t be long and it will be my turn, I think the family may rather starve ;).
But the cook isn’t the only one to be thanked. Family members may have survived cancer, at which point thanks are given to: God, Family, and the wonderful Doctors who cared for them. I was thankful for the birth of my healthy boy last year, and the year I was grateful to be home from Iraq and being able to see my lovely wife the day I arrived back in the States.
There is so much that giving thanks does for the person both the one thanking and those on the receiving end. Dennis Prager talks about gratefulness in his book “Happiness is a Serious Problem“. More recently Hugh Hewitt dedicated an entire chapter of his new book “The Happiest Life” to write about Gratitude. Have I mentioned that I have a pre-release copy? If not you should go to The Happiest Life Book and pre-order your copy today.
Giving the gift of gratitude is humbling. It reminds us that we did not get to where we are simply on our own but with the gifts and the blessings of others along the way as well. Sometimes it may seem we did it all alone, but remembering to give thanks brings pause. If we do not take the time to appreciate the gifts, and the blessings of others we develop chips on our shoulders that weaken our spirit and take away from bringing happiness not only to ourselves but to others as well.
So this Thanks Giving I am blessed. I will for the first time be meeting the grand majority of my inlaws. I am looking forward to it, if for no other reason than without them I doubt I would have ever met my wife. Their shared experience ultimately led my wife onto her journey and for that I am thankful. I am of course thankful for my Son and my Daughter, my wife and my family. I am ever so grateful for the Army giving me my opportunities including my current duty station and a safe deployment to Iraq. I am grateful to Hugh Hewitt for the gifts he has given to me even the simplest ones from my very first meeting with him at the Minnesota State Fair almost a decade ago. Being part of his pre-launch book campaign has been a privileged and the book has been a wonderful read equipped with mirth and wisdom along the way.
