Everyday Is Thanksgiving

It's been almost a month since I last had my entry.  It didn't feel that long because until now I'm still feeling feverish from the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving.  

A week before that my table was already brimming with the kids' Thanksgiving artwork from school.  From turkeys painted out of hand prints to their stories about how the first Thanksgiving of 1621 was celebrated by the pilgrims of Plymouth, Massachusetts for a bountiful harvest.  Times, people, and legislation have all played their influence on this celebration that made it America's great family tradition.  

Thanksgiving was wonderful! This was our first in our new home and the family celebrated the festivity with our friends in church. Both physical and spiritual appetites were fed in abundance.   With the help of my ever supportive and overly critical children, I made turkey for the first time.  I remember my dad preparing this most celebrated bird during New Year's Eve back in the Philippines.  I have never seen the relevance of the bird for another country or culture, if my dad hadn't made it on another similarly celebrated family gathering in the Philippines. All this nostalgia told me I can brave doing one because someone from this brown race of mine did it. The apprehensions slowly ebbed as the aroma of my country's very own lemon grass  diffused in harmony with Rosemary and lemons. Four hours are agonizingly long as you wait while smelling this. 

 We all have an endless list of things to be grateful for. As we continue to go on with life, the items in that list evolve and metamorphose depending on circumstances that we could control and those that could only be orchestrated by someone greater than us.  We have experienced that no matter how man strives to be the "master of his fate and the captain of his soul", tomorrow will be shrouded.  With this uncertainty, we need a balance point, a walking stick to aid us trek unfamiliar grounds.  In the book of Hebrews 11:1 it says, 

"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (I Thes. 11:1)

This confidence called "faith" makes our thanksgiving a constant way of life regardless of bounty, success, loss, and suffering.  Apostle Paul saw it in this light,

"...give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

(1 Thes. 5:18)

Yes, give thanks in all things!  Not just during Thanksgiving but even on those days when the feasting ceases and all the noise and laughter of the festivities have faded. Though the future is unseen, thank God for the things that are yet to come and couple it with faith in His promises.  Thank God for a family who in it's imperfections are constantly in pursuit of building and growing things that are good and loving for each other's sake.  

Thank God for grateful kids who in their naive understanding of the world develop an eye for appreciation of what they have and the people who make an important role in their lives.  Nice turkey artwork, Marcus!