Without a doubt Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Once again this year I wonder just why this is so:

  • is it because I’m a Congregationalist and this is OUR holiday?
  • is it because it’s the only holiday that has yet to be utterly commercialized?
  • is it because of the high school football game from my youth?
  • is it because of family-at-home watching the Macy’s parade as preparations are begun for the dinner?
  • is it because of the Thanksgiving morning worship at the Congregational Church of my youth where the children’s choir (with me in it) sang?

No, I don’t really think these get at the heart of it. Though I do believe that they all play a part, and surely the annual gathering of family together for one day plays a large part, the real reason is deeper

Grateful living is what life is all about: Expressing thanks to those around us who enrich our lives, praising God for all our blessings, and using the time, gifts, and talents we have to better our families, relationships, church, community, and world. ThanksLiving is living every moment in gratitude to God. In spite of all the calamities and hardships that our pilgrim forebears endured that first year in Plymouth, they gave thanks to God – not just at “the first Thanksgiving,” but continually

Can we do less? There is so much to be thankful for: our health, families, love, friends, homes, church, children, parents, work, service. Do we want to be known as people of “hard hearts” or “grateful hearts.” And the choice really is ours. Recall the words from Deuteronomy 30:19: …I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live

The real reason that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday is because it reminds me that ThanksLiving is how I am really to live; to know I am living as my Creator intended: grateful for the gift of life and eager to return the gift in service to Him.

In His Service,
Rev. Jim Howard