When is the Real Thanksgiving?

Here we are, the day after Thanksgiving.  This morning some of you most likely got up at 3 AM to storm the doors of shops and freeze to death in the cold November air.   Others most likely slept until nine o'clock, glad to finally have sleep-in day after weeks of work with no breaks and yesterday's confrontation with the relatives.  Maybe today is your housecleaning day—the Friday after Thanksgiving has been officially your "fall cleaning" day ever since the first grandchild was born.

But in all of your business, your everyday lives, will you remember to give thanks?  The Pilgrims actually celebrated Thanksgiving for three days, and I think that the whole "give thanks" thing was pretty well remembered afterward.  But for us, it's a reason to get together with friends, watch TV, and eat a huge meal that leaves everyone sitting around complaining about how tired they are afterward.  Where have we put God in all this "giving thanks"?  My plea is that we will remember Thanksgiving not just one day, two days, or three days out of the year—but all year.  During the hard times and the easy times, when you feel like disappearing into a book and when you feel like shouting for joy in the middle of the mall.  So give thanks through it all, and make every day Thanksgiving.