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Reflections November 2012

Life Is for Living

Thanksgiving: the Reason for this Season

By Neil Wyrick

When my own thanksgiving thoughts come alive at this time of the year I call up what I have for a long while entitled "Thanksgiving Day, A Dress Rehearsal for a Year-Long Play." Or at least I believe this is what it ought to be; not just one day to remember all we have to be thankful for, but an attempt to put into practice all year long what we so easily say on this special day.

Think November 1623, and with your imagination on full flow see William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony speaking: “I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house on ye hill on Thursday, November 19th, of the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye all Almighty God for all His blessings."

And thus the first thanksgiving began for these survivors of a dangerous sea voyage and three years in an often hostile land. These few would grow to millions, and a toehold on a little bit of New England would eventually spread in all directions and become our beloved United States. Haven and promised land to the immigrants who have crowded its shores for new beginnings. My own background that of German and Scotch Irish.

No, our streets have never been paved with gold, as the wild tales would have the gullible believe, but through good times and bad, this has indeed been a land of hope and opportunity.

When my own thanksgiving thoughts come alive at this time of the year I call up what I have for a long while entitled "Thanksgiving Day, A Dress Rehearsal for a Year-Long Play." Or at least I believe this is what it ought to be; not just one day to remember all we have to be thankful for, but an attempt to put into practice all year long what we so easily say on this special day.

And, yes, the ghost of Norman Rockwell dwells in a lot of us oldie, goldie folk when we remember his pictured Thanksgiving table. All those smiling people, from the octogenarians on down to the babies in their high chairs, seem to spread such a special warmth on this otherwise cold and sometimes cloudy November day.

Oh, how I would like to board a time machine and even don a Pilgrim's hat, but more importantly a Pilgrim's attitude. And step with those early folk who had carried with them such bravery, been with them as they fell to their knees and prayed the survivors’ prayer.

I cannot imagine what it was like to be so far from home. I cannot imagine what it was like to not know, and take for granted religious freedom. I have never felt the dictator’s heel, but for those who have, I have no doubt they could articulate better than I ever could "liberty’s call."

What do I do each Thanksgiving to make it come alive? I think of it as an early Christmas gift, the gift of appreciation that keeps on giving.

I feed this positive thought with specifics. I name names and places and yesteryear Thanksgivings that warm the cockles of my heart. Some of these pictures have family members who are no longer with me, but whose memories are good for this old mind.

Thanksgiving isn't just a day. It’s a mood. That perhaps sums it all up best. It's a wish for, and a feeding of, a group of gathered folk with a special peace. A feast not just of food but fellowship and unconditional love. Expressed. Implied. Written down. Whispered out with a shy smile. A hug. Giving as much or more than getting. Or perhaps that is the core of it all...gratitude and now we're back to thanksgiving again.

 

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