This morning I’m sitting on my very comfy sectional, having eaten a nice breakfast and looking out my window at the beautiful sunny blue sky.  I just received a couple of texts from my sisters-in-love wishing us a happy Thanksgiving.  The apartment is quiet except for the trickling of water from the fish tank and the sounds of the radio coming from my son’s room.  I anticipate a day full of great food and my wonderful family and I find myself celebrating divine goodness.

The definition of Thanksgiving for English language learners is “The fourth Thursday in November in the U.S. …celebrated as a legal holiday for people to be thankful for what they have” also defined as “a public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness”. No mention of pilgrims and Indians here; it is a day to publicly declare what we are thankful for.  And who do we give thanks to?  Not a person or group of people, but “divine goodness”.

However, this day seems to have become anything but a day to be thankful for divine goodness.  We celebrate with ridiculous amounts of food, watch football and the Macy’s Day parade and start our Black Friday shopping.  It’s the jump start to the Christmas holiday.  Like so many of our celebrations, it has become so very commercial instead of a day of thanks for what we have.  And there are those who use it to be political or push a cause, which is fine in itself, but maybe not on a day designed for us to be thankful.  I myself am thankful for days when not everything is turned into a political issue.  Not that that happens very often anymore.  Anyway….

But the big question is, why should we need to designate one day to celebrate divine goodness?  Shouldn’t we be celebrating His divine goodness every day?  Not just for all the big things, but the little things as well. The fact that I have a warm, comfortable place to sleep each night, that I wake up every day and have a job to go to.  That I have wonderful family and friends and plenty to eat.  I am blessed.  I should be celebrating publicly every day, shouldn’t I?

But being as blessed as I am should make me more aware of those who are struggling.  Those who may not have what so many of us take for granted.  And while it’s a wonderful thing to give them a meal on Thanksgiving, it’s not the only day they do without.  Being aware of His divine goodness every day should remind us of others EVERY day, not just on Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I know that this is something I need to remember when I get so busy that it ends up being all about me.

So today, as you hopefully read this, maybe we all need to consider being thankful for His divine goodness every day, and through that, allow Him to share a little of that divine goodness through us, not just on Thanksgiving, but all year long.  Happy Thanksgiving!