A Thanksgiving Onion

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving day. Thanksgiving is a wonderful time for families to get together and to eat way too much food. But underneath all of the turkey and stuffing, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, there is a concept that we often miss in all of our busyness. So today let us peel off the layers of this Thanksgiving onion and get down to the basics of the holiday.

Travel - Many people travel hundreds of miles just to arrive at their Thanksgiving destination. Why? The delays, cancellations, packing, unpacking and repacking can be overwhelming. Why do it?

Football - Football has certainly become a part of the Thanksgiving tradition. Thanksgiving meals are often planned around kickoffs and halftime shows.

Food - The Thanksgiving meal has certainly changed over the years. It used to be a turkey, corn and squash back in the day. Now we've added stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream. 

If we removed all these things, what would be left? Okay, maybe leave in the travel. But if we removed all the layers of this Thanksgiving onion that we are dissecting today, what would be left?

Faith, family, and love.

It's possible to shrink the reason for Thanksgiving even further though. Think about it. Can't we reduce the reason for Thanksgiving into just one word?

God.

Thanksgiving IS really all about God. Or at least it used to be. Who are we giving thanks TO anyway? If we do not give thanks to God on Thanksgiving day, what are we even doing?

And why do we only designate a Thanksgiving Day? Yes, I know all about the Pilgrims. But I am quite sure they gave thanks EVERY day because  of their struggle just to survive. And so should we.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of love, and for Your grace and mercy. Thank you for Your creation and design of the family unit. Without You and what You've done, we wouldn't even be here. We give thanks and praise to the One True God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Amen.

"I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High." - Psalm 7:17

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" - Psalm 107:1