Thanksgiving by Rob Dufour

I was glad we had the discussion of appreciating food right before we left for Thanksgiving break because of the thankful nature of the holiday along with the inordinate amount of food that most people are exposed to on that Thursday. As I sat down with my family at the dinner table I looked onto the table to see a dinner that my family had taken all day to prepare and began to thank the Lord for the blessing of this dinner. Afterwards I began to wonder if there was any way for me to truly be thankful and appreciative for the food in front of me – not to mention the infinite other blessings in my life. Even though I know how blessed I am, I really don’t think that I am capable of truly appreciating the meal in front of me. Even though I say all the time “I’m hungry” or “I’m starving”, I have never even come close to experiencing those feelings before. I begin to think that in order for us to truly be thankful for what we have, we must know what it feels like to be without it. I try to envision all the people in the world that are hungry at the moment and how they would react to being in my seat at the table. It is just something I cannot grasp which is almost depressing to me because this idea of “thankfulness” is seemingly unattainable. As I start to eat, I think about the turkey that I am eating and how it was once alive and now it is dead so that I may live. Also with food such as carrots and broccoli – their life was also ended so that mine may continue. The feelings started to overwhelm me which was kind of a good thing and a bad thing, but I eventually confided in the fact that at least I’m searching for this appreciation. At the end of dinner I prayed that I may one day realize all my blessings and be truly thankful for them. I know this is a daunting goal but at least it is something to strive towards. As I finished up this prayer I remembered I’m pretty lucky to have such a great family as well – I think I’ll go and do my best to appreciate their company for the night.