THANKSGIVING :)

Thanksgiving Day...

A day that most across the country, experience the traditions of gathering with those they love.  Breaking bread, bowing their heads and giving 'Thanks' to God, for the blessings of life.  This originates back to the pilgrims in 1621 when their first corn harvest was successful. The first thing they wanted to do was gather in the spirit of thanksgiving, and celebration for the successful harvest.  

President Lincoln was the president that officially designated "Thanksgiving Day" as a national holiday in 1862.  At the height of the Civil War, in a proclamation entreating all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”

I imagine that the "wounds of the nation" were quite significant!  The nation was in full fledged war!  Lives were being lost, families were divided in their allegiance to either The North or The South, and to have a leader (in the midst of a war) that was present enough to call on the nation and ask all to join in the spirit together in the spirit of prayer and giving thanks... To me, this is remarkably present and an absolute display of awakened awareness.  

What energetically happens when we pause and give thanks?  Is there truly an energetic shift?  Image what would happen if we (as an entire nation) did this!  The acknowledgment and thanksgiving for that which is good and abundant... and letting go of the woes, differences, and problems of life.  Even if it's for only but a day.  When you do this...does a seed of hope somehow find it's way into your heart and mind?  As you think of your blessings, even the most basic of blessings (shelter, food, health, family, friends, and even your God given breath) do the emotional walls that we have begin to feel like they're coming down?  Often times we don't see these walls and experience the "coming together" until someone is gone.  How often do we hear (in those moments) that "I should have forgiven them while I had the chance"... "Why didn't I reach out to them before they were gone, to mend the fence between us?" ... Is it too late to bow our heads, and reach out to those we hold at a distance, and wave the olive branch of peace?  

Love can only bring others together...

Ego is what creates the distance and emotional division...

I am not unaware of circumstances where it's best to walk away from others, in the light of not being in a toxic situation any longer...  However, if you find yourself leaving others behind...think long and hard before you do...and if you still decide it's best to part ways...then do so with gratitude.  Thanking them for the stepping stone that they were in your life.  No doubt you were a stepping stone for them too,..so both could learn and grow and be able to move to their next personal level.

I don't think it's coincidence, that we are instructed in prayer, to give thanks first.  It brings us to a knee in the light of humility.  The more we thank and acknowledge the blessings granted to us, the more the ego dies and the seeds of hope and happiness begin to emerge from inside us.  "The seeds of sorrow can not take root in a grateful heart"... Paul George.

May we truly give thanks (not just eat turkey) as we gather with loved ones today.  May we all try to offer the olive branch to someone that has been estranged, yet we still love and would be devastated if they were gone for good.  Make that attempt to decrease the distance with those that are estranged...  

and may we relish in those that ARE with us and we hold dear on this special day of Thanksgiving!  

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! God Bless us all :)