The weather in southern Iowa has turned cold overnight! The political ads have finally ceased, and the televisions are now blasting us with commercialized Christmas. Wasn’t there once a special day called Thanksgiving? Has it been discounted as no longer relevant to our “I want it all for me” society?

There was a post on Facebook today offering a pledge that might be appropriate. The pledge was this, “I will not shop on Thanksgiving Day.” The post further suggested that Thanksgiving Day is for families, for gathering together with the people who have given meaning to our lives and for considering all the blessings we enjoy day by day.

Think about some of the traditional “things” for which we claim to be thankful:

1. Our family. Yes, those very people who, according to our complaints, frustrate us, ask too much of us, don’t appreciate us enough, and otherwise just disappoint us. Would anyone guess how important those people are to us by what they hear us say?
2. Our church. That place where we know we should be more often than we are!
3. Our health. Yet we do not have the gumption to eat less and exercise more.
4. Our job. That institution that robs us of our time in exchange for enough money to pay our bills.

So, what is the point of Thanksgiving? It is a day that gently reminds us to rethink our attitudes. We can choose to be thankful for families who are close enough to share the little moments of everyday life. We can rethink the importance of God in our daily life and recommit to holding the church high on our priority list. We can resolve to protect our health by doing that walk, putting down that soda, or getting the rest that would make our days go smoother. And we can re-evaluate the dissatisfactions that drag us down every day while we are “making a living.”

The state of thankfulness is a choice. We can choose to grumble about all the things that disappoint us, or we can choose to delight in all the blessings God has given us.