In the United States we celebrate Thanks Giving Day on the 4th Thursday in November. Canada celebrates Thanks Giving Day on the second Monday in October. Whether in Canada or the United States these days of giving thanks are probably the most popular civil holidays in our annual calendar. As wonderful and true as that is, every day is a day when we should give thanks for the many blessings that are bestowed upon us.
All we have to do is look around us and we can begin making a long list of reasons for giving thanks. We are blessed with this beautiful summer season of the year and even if your favorite season is spring, fall or even winter, the fact of the changes of the seasons render us truly blessed with the changes we have. Whether it’s a change in temperature, the colors of the different seasons, it’s all a blessing.
For many people who love to swim, we have nearby lakes and now days many families are blessed by having a swimming pool in their back yard; and not only that, many of the pools have heated water when they want it. Blessing, blessing, blessing.
For everyone especially at this time of year the supermarkets are teeming with all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables, many of them locally grown. That is the great blessing that adds to our ability to have good and healthy food available year round. Another blessing is the markets, like the one at Wisner Park, open for several months during the year when so many locally grown foods are available to us. Again, blessing, blessing, blessing.
I hope we are all the more conscious of the reasons we have to express our thanks for all the blessings that are before us. Stop and think of the many parts of the world where food is not only at a shortage level but the risk of starvation and all too often the reality of starvation is a daily threat. Because we are so greatly blessed please be sure to include in your daily prayers a prayer of thanksgiving for these countless blessings.
You know, maybe a good idea would be to write down some of the many reasons we have for giving thanks to the Lord for all we are blessed with. Use such a list when your family sits down for your evening meal or your Sunday dinner. Share some of those thoughts. It’s also a very good way of teaching young children of how blessed we are and that we should not take any of the wonderful things we are blessed with for granted.
Even sharing some thoughts about all the good these blessings do for us as a part of dinner table conversation is another very good way to keep families mindful of how good our God is to us.
I hope everyone is continuing to enjoy these summer days and thankful for the great bounty the Lord has showered upon us.
Fr. Walt
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