Thankless Misgivings: A Yearly Tradition
One of my favorite holiday memories as a child was waking up on Thanksgiving morning to the smell of food. I knew as soon as I opened my eyes that my grandmother had gotten up in the early hours to begin cooking the meal for the day. As soon as I was out of bed, I would run into the living room and peer around the corner to see both her and my mother standing over the oven. I never realized how special those memories were until now. Growing up the holidays centered around family, fun and fellowship. As the years have flown by, it has changed drastically. The holiday season for many brings anxiety, exhaustion and uncertainty. Several of my clients are going through the death of a spouse or loved one and are trying to navigate the grief and the loneliness. Some of them like the aspect of being alone on the holiday while others complain about the drama and division going on in their families and how they must endure another holiday of bickering among family members.
Thanksgiving is mostly historically coined by Pilgrims and Puritans who immigrated from England. However, this is not the case. Though England already had days of fasting as well as thanksgiving, those feast days required the absence of food. The story we were taught to believe in school was not an official proclamation of Thanksgiving Day. It was regarding a pact between the Puritans and the Wampanoag Native American people who offered protection to them as well as food sources for their survival during winter. It was actually George Washington who proclaimed the first nationwide Thanksgiving in America on November 26, 1789 stating it, “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of the Almighty God,” urging Americans to, “unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations to beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions.”
It seems a once sacred holiday is now just another day where we go through the motions, rather than observing it the way it was intended to be. We use Thanksgiving as a day off from work, an all you can eat buffet, a debate for our political views, and for some an all-out assault on others. We do all these things feeling justified in our reactions not only towards the observance of the day, but towards those that are around us. There is no “Thanksgiving” in this national holiday. Instead, there is gluttony, self-centeredness, selfishness and pride. We want all the blessings God has for us with limited to no effort on our part. This holiday was intended to give God the glory and instead we are the ones that glory in ourselves. There is no room for God.
What kind of thankfulness comes without our Creator? And what kind of unity? James 3:16-18 says, “For where jealousy and self-interest exist, there will be disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” Without God there is no Thanksgiving Day and there is no unity. We are just gathering on a day we shouldn’t even bother acknowledging if we cannot observe it the way it was intended to be. We should be uniting together and focusing our thoughts and prayers on a Father who has given us more grace and love than any of us can even begin to comprehend.
Now is the time to change things. We can all look around and see that the world is not improving but rather becoming darker as the days go on. A famous poet once said, “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” Now is the time to wake up and seek God in repentance and start allowing Him to work on our hearts so that we can dwell in unity together and not just focus on ourselves. We need to be a light shining for others around us and a comfort to those who are hurting. We must decide who we will follow today for the times ahead, and if we truly are willing to lay down our lives, pick up our cross and follow Him. This requires self-denial and as Paul would say, “esteeming others before ourselves.” Friends, we can’t do this without Jesus. He is the only way to a Spirit filled life and a genuine heart that seeks after change. Are you tired of fighting within yourself and the lack of fulfilment in your life? Lasting change is through Christ and Christ alone.