Thanksgiving Should Come Every Day

With the Thanksgiving holiday quickly approaching, the subject of giving thanks is on most of our minds. But, why should only one day be devoted to giving thanks. The giving of thanks should not be for just one day in November, it should be a year round habit, a whole way of life. Think about it. How many of us hurry along, so entirely focused on ourselves that we forget what it really is that makes life worth living. Far too often we are too busy or self-absorbed, myself included, to notice the beauty in the world all around us. Our minds are too busy thinking about getting through our busy day. We take our existence for granted

But if we would just take the time, we would see that every day we have something to be thankful for. Take our health, for example. Being healthy is truly a miracle, but most of us never notice of it until we end up at a doctor diagnosed with one illness or another. I smoked for 48 years before stopping and ate whatever I wanted without thought of the consequences.  For weeks on end, I never touched a piece of fruit. I lived on high sodium foods and sweets. I didn't believe in doctors. Heck, why go to a doctor when you can treat yourself. Besides, if there is something bad, I don't want to know. Denial will make it go away. Then comes the day when a very painful pulled muscle drags me to the emergency room, and I find that my body is beginning to fall apart.  Needless to say, I no longer take my health for granted.  I eat well, and I eat healthy. And each day I give thanks for another day.

We must also be thankful for the people, those in our living situations  and the people we live, work, and interact with each day, who have come into  our lives. They were put there for a reason. Instead of criticizing, we should appreciate them and give thanks that they have entered into our lives. How sad it is that we are often so preoccupied with our own needs and wants the we really see or appreciate one another. We should not take them for granted and utilize the opportunities that surround us each day to connect more deeply in each of our relationships.  I'd like to close today by sharing a poem from one of my favorite poets, Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Her words always seem to speak to me, and I find them a nice way to start the day.Hope you like them as much as I do.

We walk on starry fields of white
And do not see the daisies;
For blessings common in our sight
We rarely offer praises.
We sigh for some supreme delight
To crown our lives with splendor
And quite ignore our daily store
Of pleasures sweet and tender.

    Our cares are bold and push their way

        Upon our thought and feeling.

    They hang about us all the day,

        Our time from pleasure stealing.

    So unobtrusive many a joy

        We pass by and forget it,

    But worry strives to own our lives

        And conquers if we let it.

    There's not a day in all the year

        But holds some hidden pleasure,

    And looking back, joys oft appear

        To brim the past's wide measure.

    But blessings are like friends, I hold,

        Who love and labor near us.

    We ought to raise our notes of praise

        While living hearts can hear us.

    Full many a blessing wears the guise

        Of worry or of trouble.

    Farseeing is the soul and wise

        Who knows the mask is double.

    But he who has the faith and strength

        To thank his God for sorrow

    Has found a joy without alloy

        To gladden every morrow.

    We ought to make the moments notes

        Of happy, glad Thanksgiving;

    The hours and days a silent phrase

        Of music we are living.

    And so the theme should swell and grow

        As weeks and months pass o'er us,

    And rise sublime at this good time,

        A grand Thanksgiving chorus.

By Ella Wheeler Wilcox