This past week our nation paused to celebrate Thanksgiving; a time to come together with family and friends, to feast and to be thankful for what blessings we have been given. Thanksgiving has never been a favorite holiday for me. I honestly don’t remember ever celebrating Thanksgiving as a child. I am sure we did; but the first one I can actually remember, I was in my teens. For many of my adult years, it was just a reminder of how I am alone, separated by the miles from my family. But you see, that is where I was wrong.

Thanksgiving isn’t about being with all your friends and family, gorging yourself on an endless buffet of food. Thanksgiving is about being Thankful. That may sound a bit cliché, but it is the truth. If you strip away all the distractions of Thanksgiving–the food, the shopping, the travel, the family members you don’t get along with–what does Thanksgiving really mean?

I was dumbfounded this week as I watched a video of young college students on a ivy league campus being asked about Thanksgiving. Almost all of them said they believed it was the celebration of the slaughter of the American Indians and the taking of their land by the white man. While it is true that many atrocities were committed against the American Indians, that was hundreds of years after the first Thanksgiving and far from the original intent of the holiday.

The pilgrims had fled religious oppression in Great Britain and Europe to find a new land where they could worship God as they believed. After a long and very difficult season when many had died from the hardships they were not prepared for, the Wampanoag Indians and the Plymouth colonists shared an autumn harvest feast. It was 1621 and more than 100 years before the founding of this nation.

So, what is my point? Why do we celebrate Thanksgiving today? Is it just an excuse to gorge yourself and then do some early Christmas shopping? Or do you have the original intent in your heart? I didn’t grow up in a family with a Thanksgiving tradition. We didn’t go to grandma’s house every year, like most families. But as I look back on this week and also on my life, I am forever thankful.

I am thankful that I have the freedom to praise God publicly, without fear of imprisonment or death. I am thankful that I have a loving and supportive church family. I am thankful for my husband, my children, and my grandchildren. Life is so short, and we don’t know what the next moment will bring. Instead of looking back 100 years and blaming the mistakes of the past, let us look forward and embrace those we love and thank God for everything he has given us.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7