Giving Thanks the Hard Way

In just about a week, Turkey's will be carved, gravy will be poured, stuffing will be stuffed, and backyards will be filled with brothers and sisters fighting for every inch on the makeshift football fields. It's going to be Thanksgiving. A holiday devoted to a lot of eating and sleeping. Other than that fact, it should be like any other day, as simply saying the word "thanks" should be a regular occurrence...but is it?

It's easy to have a door opened for you and you respond with a thank you. Like I always talk about, it helps build the community around us. Obviously though, really really giving thanks is something deeper. Some of us are given quite a bit in life, some of us aren't. Some of us earn a lot in life, some of us don't. Being thankful for the things we earn is important, as the gifts that God gave us become evident. Without those skills, we would have no chance at earning anything. We need to be thankful for that.

Another aspect of appreciating what we have is actually criticism. How else do we get better? If someone takes the time, to be constructive and let us know when we are in the wrong, that is indeed a blessing from God. If it comes out in an extremely negative way, we need to consider the source, pray for them, and maybe try to take something good out of what they say. It's hard to pray for those who are mean to us, let alone be thankful for those people. Yet, there is some good in everybody, believe it or not.

A lot of times, different arguments can come from seeing family again, which is completely natural. Often those arguments can arise out of sheer nothingness, and may be hiding other frustrations. We need to remember though, not only the reason for the holiday, but the reason we are on this earth to begin with. We need to be happy to be around other people. That's the beauty of being here, learning about other people. That's when life can be the most interesting, when you learn about more and more people, who are different in every way. That makes it fun.

So, let's be thankful for everyone around us, not matter if they are our best friend or our worst enemy. We probably wouldn't be who we are without them, so let's celebrate it, why not? Happy Thanksgiving.