I'm Thankful Because...

I'm grateful that I'm not a turkey, though some may dispute that reality.  Not because I'd be in danger of ending up on someone's table this week.  Not because I could give myself for the enjoyment of others.  Not even because my own purpose could be enhanced by the tastiness of dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberries, pumpkin pie and other delicacies.

No, I am thankful because, compared to the thanksgiving bird, my brain in relation to my body is proportionately much greater.  The pea-sized brain of the turkey is so small that the poor fowl doesn't even have a sense of self-preservation.  I recall when I was a youngster at home, my Dad took his truck to haul young turkeys for a local farmer who raised them.  When the box of the truck was raised up to unload them, the turkeys would come off in a pile.  Then it was necessary to get into the pile with a broom and scatter them or they would just lie there on top of one another and smother.

This larger brain provides me with the opportunity to be grateful not just this one day each year.  My cranial capacity allows me to adopt an attitude of gratitude throughout the year.  I can truly follow St Paul's admonition:  "Rejoice always, never cease praying, in all circumstances give thanks" (1 Thes 5:17-18).  This mindset of thankfulness is a choice based not on how wonderful the circumstances of my life are, but rather on how deep within is the conviction that God is in charge of my life.  If God is truly in charge, then I have nothing to fear, and everything for which to be thankful.  "If God is for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8:31).  So, thank you!

Therefore, as we gather together as family at the home of My Love's sister to celebrate this family feast, with each mouthful of food, I will be breathing a prayer of thanks.  May that prayer become as second-nature as the breathing and eating, so that it will continue long after the left-overs have disappeared.