LIFE WITH THANKSGIVING

“I will praise God's name in song
and glorify him with Thanksgiving”.
…….Psalm 69:30

From time immemorial, people have felt the need to observe rituals and ceremonies to express gratitude to a higher power for providing blessings and for life itself. These expressions of gratitude have usually taken the form of celebrations and festivals held annually at the time of Harvest, and represent acts of thanksgiving from the people. Throughout the ages, in every culture and in every society these expressions of gratitude, though different in time and in character, have developed as a common denominator to identify and reinforce a group of people who become established as a tribe, or country or nation.

Throughout the world people from various cultures have celebrated these communal gatherings around the time of completion of their primary crops. These various harvest festivals are observed under different names and in different seasons, with each region embracing its unique customs and traditions to celebrate the occasion. Although the form of celebration may differ from one to another, they all include prayers, public demonstrations and feasts together with expressions of gratitude, love and peace as common factors.

Among the ancient cultures, the Greeks worshipped Demeter as their goddess of all grains. Each autumn the festival of Thesmosphoria was held to honor the goddess. The Romans celebrated Cerelia, a festival which was dedicated to Ceres, their goddess of corn. The Egyptians celebrated their festival in honor of their god of vegetation and fertility, Min, when a most important part of this ceremony was the symbolic act of the Pharaoh cutting the first sheaf, or bundle, of grain. Jewish families, for over 3000 years, have been celebrating an autumn harvest festival called Sukkoth, and continue to do so presently. Throughout the centuries, most countries in Asia have hosted festivals in gratitude for each year's rice harvest, and continue to do so, to this day. In Africa, there many ceremonies of tribal expressions of gratitude for the produce of the land taking place annually, and in recent times these are reflected in the annual Kwanza festival celebrated in America.

In America, the celebration of Thanksgiving is a cherished tradition, held in high regard by the whole nation each November. But long before its discovery by Columbus, the first Americans observed several rituals and ceremonies to express gratitude to a higher power for life itself. The Seneca Tribe of the Iroquois Indian Nation observed a thanksgiving ritual annually and is credited with this beautiful pray:

Let there be gratitude; we are always going to be grateful,
we who remain, we who claim to be happy. And give it your thought:
the first thing for us to do is to be thankful to each other.
And our minds will continue to be so.

In November 1997, the U.N. General Assembly, on the recommendation of a dedicated group of experts, unanimously declared the year 2000 as the International Year of Thanksgiving. This declaration marked the first time the General Assembly voted unanimously in favor of a spiritual idea and noted:

“Thanksgiving is basic in human nature and is observed worldwide.
It ties human communities together and encourages brotherhood and sharing.”

However, let us not ever forget, that there is another, more personal form of thanksgiving that is related to our own individual lives as it affects our interaction with others. Many of us tend to forget our responsibility, by avoiding or disregarding our duty to genuinely recognize the help others extend to us. It is so important that we live our lives around this fundamental principle of acknowledging and rewarding the goodwill from others, for this above all else, will make us the better person. The late President John F. Kennedy expressed these sentiments most effectively, in this manner:

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that
the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them”

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O Lord that lends me life,

Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness.

…….William Shakespeare

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
……Seneca

Got no check books, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my Thanks;
- I got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night. ……Irving Berlin

A Thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue,
but the parent of all the other virtues.
…….Cicero

Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men;
but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude.
…..E.P. Powell

.Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace;
The celebration of work and the simple life.
……Ray Stannard Baker

On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our interdependence.
……William Jennings Bryan

Not what we say about our blessings,
but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving.
……W.T. Purkiser

Thanksgiving is a season that is very much in accord
with the themes and teachings of Jesus Christ.
……John Clayton

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, For love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.
…….Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thanksgiving is possible only for those who take time to remember;
No one can give thanks who has a short memory.
……..Author Unknown

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them;
Is the true measure of our thanksgiving.
……W.T. Purkiser