North Americans (US and Canada) have a wonderful tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving. It is a holiday with cultural, historical and religious significance. (I will no longer go into details about the history since anyone can look it up online anyway.) I think it is a beautiful practice to actually reserve a day in which to give thanks. Although the original celebration of thanksgiving was for a very particular event, it has evolved into a tradition of giving thanks – for whatever one is grateful for.
Sometimes, we can take many things for granted. We don’t always thank God for the many blessings He gives us. Or if we do thank Him, we have the tendency to lump things up and say, “Thank you for everything” or “Thank you for my family.” But even saying, “Thank you for my family” isn’t always very helpful because in a day, a week and a year, many things can go on within our families that bear giving thanks.
For example, I am grateful for my family but I am specifically grateful that my dad, even when I am all grown up, manages to find time to buy me snacks that I bring to work every day. I am grateful whenever my mother goes to Simala that she not only prays for me but includes my intentions and even my students. I am grateful that I have a sister whom I can call even if it is something as mundane as asking her what I should wear for a special occasion. I am grateful for another sister who even if far away can still give me reading recommendations and share faith stories with me. I am grateful that I have nephews and nieces who beg to listen to my stories. I am grateful for a grandmother who turned 100 in August.
When we break down into little moments and experiences, the great gifts that have been given to us, we remind ourselves that God loves us enough to take care even of the little details of our life. So when we are grateful, we’re really reminding ourselves: “God loves me. He’s taking care of me.”
And I’ve noticed, too, the relationships that I have over the years are made stronger and more meaningful when love and gratitude are verbally expressed. Romantic relationships are at an advantage because society expects romantic love to be expressed in grand gestures (and documented on social media). But for the rest of our family and friends, many of us might actually spend our entire lives never thanking each other for what really counts – thank you for asking how I’m doing, thank you for being honest about how my new hair really looks, thank you for making the effort to keep in touch, thank you for forgetting that I still owe you 20 pesos because I ran out of change the last time we had dinner, thank you for praying for me even when I don’t remind you to, thank you for reminding me that it’s okay to be sad sometimes. It’s the little, everyday things that make up our relationships and that that make us happy. But it’s often the little everyday things that we forget to thank others for.
If we lived in North America, we might have spent last Thursday night thanking God and each other for the many gifts we’ve been given over a roast turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and cranberry. I can’t cook turkey to save my life but I do hope that before this year ends, I can tell the people I love the most just how grateful I am for them and the things they do.
Oh. And thank you, dear reader, (although, I do often wonder if anybody aside from my editor reads this column) who takes the time to read what I write. You should know, I am grateful for you too.