Weekend Thoughts: What About Thanksgiving?

Long before the costumes and candy were even consumed for Halloween, stores already had their Christmas products on the shelves.  I saw Santa and Jack-o-lanterns literally across the aisle from each other at Target a few weeks ago.  And now, while the candy still lingers in our pumpkin bowls,  if you walk into any department store, mall, or craft store, you’d swear it was December as the sights, sounds, and smells all tell of Christmas.

But, what about Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving is too often forgotten in our culture.  Perhaps because it is an attitude of the heart and not something which can be bought or decorated.  A true spirit of thanksgiving must be cultivated, not consumed.  And this takes time for both thought and intention.  Hmmm, all things we seem to lack in our consumer drive, instant gratification seeking way of life.

I know that personally, I struggle with truly taking the time to stop and reflect and genuinely give thanks for the many, many blessings God has given me.  It’s all too easy to focus on where we’ll be celebrating this year, and whose bringing what, and will it be like old times, and don’t forget Black Friday shopping the next morning……

This year, I’d like to do something different.   This year, I’d like to make Thanksgiving more than just everyone going around the table and saying what they are thankful for.  I want to make it a season.  I want to spend the next three weeks leading up to thanksgiving, giving thanks.  I want to set aside some personal time, each day, to just give thanks to God.  I want to look around my house, my neighborhood, my church, my every day life filled with dirty dishes and overflowing laundry baskets, and I want to say, “Thank You.” 

Then, after I spend about a week or so of personal reflection on my blessings, I’d like to lead my kids to do the same.  I’ve read some great ideas online about making Thanksgiving trees, or calendars, boxes,…where you have everyone in your family write or draw something they are thankful for that day and reflect on it throughout the month.  These sound like wonderful ideas.  I’m not sure which one I want to implement this year.  It could be as simple as going around the table every morning at breakfast and saying something we are thankful for.  The goal, for me, is to make the true act of giving thanks more than just an after thought, but rather the for thought of our day. 

And to be honest, I can’t think of a better way to prepare my heart for the season of advent, then by preceding it with a season of thanksgiving.  Care to join me?

What are you thinking about this week? Why not use your last post of the week to highlight something a bit "deeper" then the average “Momblog” fair?  I’d love to read your thoughts.  Please feel free to write and link up a  “thoughtful” post below.  You can write a new post or link up one you wrote earlier in the week.  Please include a link back to here in your post.