Cause for Celebration

Cause for Celebration

Do a little digging and you’ll quickly discover that the celebration we observe this week in the U.S.—Thanksgiving—was actually more of a traditional harvest festival for the Pilgrims than the Hallmark holiday it has become today.  In your digging you’ll also discover that barely half of the original 102 Pilgrims who landed on Plymouth Rock in 1621—56 in total—survived that first brutal year in the “land of plenty.”  And yet…despite the hardships, despite the sorrow at losing so much, despite how little they had, they still chose to celebrate and invite the Indians who had helped them through the first harrowing year in their new land. 

We may not know exactly what they ate or how they officially honored that first harvest on American soil.  But we do know that they honored and celebrated their simple blessings.  Undoubtedly they celebrated the help they had received from the Indians in learning how to cultivate the land; how to fish and hunt.  No doubt they celebrated their survival despite having lost so many loved ones.  They surely appreciated their freedom from religious persecution, one of the major catalysts that  brought them to the new world.  And I’m certain that they celebrated the food they were privileged to enjoy on that cold day nearly four centuries ago. 

How easy it is for us to forget the tough roots we come from!  How easily we become distracted by the loud voices that drone on endlessly, pointing out all that is wrong, all that is missing, all that seems to be going awry in this year 2011.  I admit I often fall prey to the same tendency. 

That’s why I’m so excited about this Thanksgiving in particular.  Because if we ever needed to find causes for celebration that time is NOW! I’m fortunate that I can celebrate this holiday in the company of family and friends.  I’m blessed to be able to share bounty that is beyond what anyone should expect.  I’m also blessed and deeply grateful to be able to share with those who have less to eat and far fewer reasons to celebrate during this Thanksgiving season.  I hope that you are also among the blessed and generous. 

But regardless of how much or little is on your table or in your bank account this Thanksgiving, I hope you’ll find a cause for celebration.  Maybe it’s simply the blessing of good health—no small thing in this day of exorbitant health care costs.  I hope you have at least one or two good friends or family members to share in Thanksgiving with.  And lately I’ve found that I’m equally happy to be celebrating the good stuff going on for others as well.  My brother and his wife whose home escaped devastation during a recent fire in Reno, NV, and the progress my friend Paula is making in recovering from her stroke earlier this year are positive examples.  I’m celebrating those who have managed to hold onto their homes and who still have jobs.  My list could go on, and I’m hoping yours could too. 

The funny thing about finding “cause for celebration” is it doesn’t much matter if it’s your personal good fortune or someone else’s.  The key is to plug in to the reasons to celebrate all around us.  Yes, I know there is much to cause us anguish, and there are those who have little to celebrate this week.  But I hope, as I recall the tough stuff, the survivors and the humble celebrations of our long-ago ancestors, that like them, we will take the time to focus on what we are privileged to enjoy and share, and that in doing so we might multiply the blessings for ourselves and others in the days and weeks to come. 

If it’s true that what we focus on expands (and I have ample evidence that it is) then I invite you to join me this week in finding and focusing on the causes for celebration all around us.  What a world we might wake up to come Thanksgiving Day!  Imagine….just imagine a world where "thanksgiving" becomes "thanks-living."  That, my friends, is a cause for celebration!

Happy Thanksgiving to All!

Quote of the Week

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

~~Melody Beattie