During my first few years in Hawaii, the idea of celebrating Thanksgiving was just like an ordinary holiday. I was exposed to eating roasted turkey, pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and cranberries during that day. I thought it was the day before the greatest shopping day of the year.
Dubbed Black Friday, many flock to the shopping malls and do their annual routine.
Yes, Thanksgiving Day is one of the most celebrated holidays in America. Unfortunately, its real significance has been washed out as dictated and sensationalized by advertisers. We have lost the essence of the holiday.
For me, giving thanks is an act of communion between your heart and the supreme being who created you. It is an unselfish act of giving away or surrendering yourself to the creator, thanking him for all the blessings he has showered upon you.
Just like those early pilgrims of Plymouth in 1621, their thanksgiving was a day of prayer, not feasting. It was a day of thanking God for a successful and bountiful harvest.
When we say thank you to our spouse, friends, children or to even strangers, it is a horizontal manifestation of a vertical connection between your heart and God.
Indeed, the holy word teaches us to be thankful. The doxology "Praise God from whom all blessings flow" is a testimony of our gratitude to Jesus Christ.
This is what real thanksgiving is all about.
Let us then make every day a day of giving thanks from the heart.
Cornelio Ancheta
Lahaina
