Is Thanksgiving Overrated?

By Mark Giles
All Access

Social media is aflame this month with the "30 Days Of Thanksgiving". People list something new every day that they're thankful for, with explanations as to why, how, and to what degree.

A good friend of mine, Steve Swanson from WAFJ North Augusta SC, said this to me not too long ago, and it really made me stop and think; "What if we woke up tomorrow with only the things we thanked God for yesterday?" He's a wise guy (in a good way), so when he speaks, I try to listen.

Ponder on that for a moment. How much stuff would you have if we operated under those stringent criteria? We get to keep only what we were thankful for yesterday. Hmmmmmm.......

I have a feeling that our dwellings (if we still had one) would be far less cluttered, decidedly less appointed, and much more sparsely furnished. The back seat of my car (if it were still in my possession) would be void of trinkets and gadgets. My closet would be nearly bare....hopefully (for both myself and the wellness and eye preservation of others) I'd still have the shirt on my back, along with pants, socks, shoes and unsoiled underwear (which would probably be the case if I woke up sans pants and shirt, but I digress). My bank account? WHAT bank account? I didn't need it yesterday, so I forgot to thank God for it. It wasn't enormous to start with, but it was available. And don't get me started on my health. I really should have uttered, "Thanks for sparing me from that nasty flu bug," more often. (atchoo!!!)

What is your point, you say? Well, I believe we should extend Thanksgiving to a year round celebration. Not just a day, or week, or month where we focus on the things that God has blessed us with, and offer up our thanks for all of social media to see. But a constant, diligent, heart-felt, continual Thanksgiving.

Of course, it's good to be reminded, and holidays have a way of bringing things to the front and center of our mind. But shouldn't we be thankful EVERY day? For ALL of our blessings?

If we were to practice daily Thanksgiving, I believe we'd have far less depression. Pharmaceutical companies would not like this, I suspect. There would be a drastic decline in envy, greed, and work-a-holism. Liquor stores, drug dealers and "adult" establishments would see far less customers, I predict. And the world would be a far better place.

So I challenge you to try on the cloak of daily Thanksgiving. See how it fits. I'm confident it will be your favorite garb, will positively color the outlook of your day, and will help you to weather whatever challenge comes your way.

You just might wake up tomorrow with those things you hold dear. And I might get to keep my shirt, pants and other extremely critical and necessary items (whew!). Simply because we were thankful for them.......Today.