Thanksgiving and Giving Thanks

One of my pet peeves is hearing Thanksgiving referred to as "Turkey Day." That's worse than "Happy Holidays" and almost as bad as "X-mas."

Such terms seem to be efforts to avoid acknowledging God as the reason for celebrating these holidays. I've heard arguments that the "X" in "X-mas" represents Christ; however, even though some people may use the term from that perspective, it just seems like a blatant effort to remove Christ from the equation. "Happy Holidays" is a generic term of inclusivity that fails to acknowledge the significance of the incarnation. And "Turkey Day" focuses on gluttony while ignoring the Creator who provides everything for which to give thanks.

Thanksgiving is a great opportunity to remember that we are to live lives of thankful gratitude to God, the giver of every good and perfect gift. Thanksgiving is far more than one day of remembering our Creator God; it's the culmination of each year's efforts to live a full-orbed worldview that is rooted in a perspective of giving thanks.

This year we were blessed to celebrate Thanksgiving with our children and grandchildren sharing a special meal. Each of us (except Wes, who is only seven months old) shared something for which we are thankful. And we had the opportunity to take some family pictures.

Everyone posed patiently while we tried repeatedly to get everyone facing the camera with their eyes open:

And then we let them get a little crazy:

We enjoyed that day of good food and fellowship with our family, but we are most thankful that our children love the Lord and live every day in thankfulness to God.