There are so many things that I am very thankful for in my life. Special people I will never forget. Every year when the season of Thanksgiving come around it always reminds me how special this day brought a different meaning to my life. Fourteen years ago, a gentle, kind friend taught me the true essence why we celebrate this season. I never understood the meaning of the celebration and I have always thought it was just a typical American tradition or like any other holiday that we get the chance to take off work and sleep in; bringing food to someone’s house like in any party when you get invited or cooking at your house and inviting friends and family over. In the past, to me it felt more like a chore because I was participating with the fallacious idea of just being present is enough.
Fast forward…aaahhh…the month of November! As I entered my building apartment, I saw boxes of deliveries to my neighbors and as I stopped to look at one of the boxes, I recognize this familiar image on one of the boxes ~ Cornucopia ~ a symbol of abundance!
Thanksgiving is a celebration of the abundant blessings in our lives throughout the year. A day to express our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings we have received from Him throughout the year ~ our family, our friends, our job, and even our pets that keep us company. It is everything that represents our accomplishments through the months of hard work and struggle, then finally reaching to where we want to be. We gather with people who plays a significant role in our lives and we celebrate with them joyously. We express this feeling of gratitude that we are still here in the present, standing strong through it all.
The banquet of food and the presence of love ones and special people in our lives, remind us that we made it through because of our existence with one another. One place – same people – one celebration. We all went through struggles, love, laughter, peace with the same people who are standing with us in this thankful celebration.
Realization struck me that Thanksgiving is not just an American tradition nor just another holiday. It is a day to remember and be thankful for people who are currently in our lives and those who have passed on ~ a friend, a family member, or someone who played a significant role in our lives. It is a reminder that Thanksgiving is not just one day in a year, not in one place nor country. It is every day and every moment that we need to pause and be thankful to Abba Father that we were given the precious gift of life and the opportunity to share it with others.
Thus, I say, if I have not said in the past…. Thank You to you all who played a huge significant role in my life.
©fm1_11.22.2014
Reflective Moments 
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