I have long decided that the Thanksgiving holiday was based on something very wrong – the taking of land from the native Americans and the subsequent oppression of the people.  I pray that some day we can right those wrongs by treating all people with dignity and making poverty a thing of the past. I celebrate Thanksgiving as a day of thanks to God.  That said,  There are so many things to be grateful for these days.  We tend to focus on the negative but the positives far outweigh the negative most of the time.

I am thankful for my family and how they surround me with love all the time.  This is truly a blessing since I know many who cannot say the same.  I have good friends upon whom I can trust.  I am thankful for basic good health.  I have my issues but overall I can function in this world without too much assistance.  I am grateful for medicine and medical care when the need arises.  I am happy to call America my home. It is not a perfect place but compared to other places in the news these days, it sure is a good place to be.

As I think about all the things I am thankful for, I cannot help but realize that they are too many to list.  I am very glad that I have a functioning mind and that I have a relationship with God.  I don’t believe in God because someone told me to do so.  I believe in God because I have experienced God in my life, profoundly.  I am thankful for Jesus, through who I have learned to know and love God deeply.  Christianity, for me, has been a good path.  There are other paths that would also have worked for me, I think.

I am basically  a happy person. I do have a great deal to be thankful for and I hope that others may share in the bounty of God’s love.  I will try to do everything I can to make the world a better place for everyone.  Huge task but each little kindness, attempt at justice, advocating for another, and act of care is part of the process.

Happy Thanksgiving!