In the spirit of giving thanks

It would not be hard to guess what I was talking about if I said pumpkin pie, more food than you could eat in one sitting (although you would try) and a time to say what you are thankful for. I’m pretty sure everyone would have the same word on their mind: Thanksgiving. Isn’t it interesting that we have a holiday based off of a meal? Of course, that’s not all there is to it, but it can be easy to forget what we’re really celebrating.  

After doing some research to refresh my memory, I found that there are a few different ideas of what really went on during those days in 1621. Sure, we have a general idea, but depending on the source, the story can be twisted into different ways. For instance, one source I found on the ever reliable Internet said the Pilgrims celebrated what we now call Thanksgiving after they massacred a handful of Indians. Another source said the only reason the Indians were there was because they heard the gunfire from the men hunting and thought a war was about to start. And still another source said Indians were invited guests to the feast.  

What most people accept as the truth, however, is that the Indians and Pilgrims had an alliance. After a terrible winter, the Indians taught the Pilgrims how to produce food from the land. As a result of this, that fall there was a harvest and therefore there was also a celebration.

Despite the fact that every detail between the Pilgrims and the Indians is unknown, we do know enough to know that a group of people who wanted religious freedom chose to leave everything they knew to travel to a free land. After nearly half of them died over the course of the journey and then the following winter, they still chose to celebrate.

While this was a time of celebration for them, it was also a time of praise. They took seriously the time of giving thanks to God for how he had provided for them. In one of two primary sources found, Edward Winslow described what that day was like. As I was reading an excerpt, this part caught my eye: “And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

The first thing that I thought when I read this was, “How can he be so thankful to God?” He just spent more than 60 days on a ship followed by a terrible winter. Add to that all the disease, deaths and days of starvation and you get…a group of people praising God and offering what they have to others? I felt so spoiled and selfish after reading that!

Things were definitely put in perspective for me. Just thinking about the months on a ship at sea followed by more months staying inside the ship while shelter was built makes me thankful for my comfortable home. Thinking about all the disease that went around that ship during those months creates in me a thankfulness for fresh air, a good immune system and modern-day medicine. And thinking about what their Thanksgiving meal consisted of makes me thankful for what food I am blessed to eat daily, let alone on Thanksgiving!

After brushing up on my history and realizing how the Pilgrims used this meal as not only a celebration, but also a praise and worship time to God, I started thinking of everything I am thankful for. And things I’m not thankful for that I should be thankful for. Would I thank God even if I had just lost loved ones? Would I thank him if I had been starving for months on end? Would I thank him if I had to leave my home just to have religious freedom? I hope I would. And I hope you would, too.