Optimist’s Roundtable

By Martha Sykes

Hard to believe, but here we are at this time of year when we look forward to spending time with family as we celebrate another Thanksgiving holiday. I, myself, have many fond memories when we had so many people to eat dinner that we spread tables out into two rooms to fit everyone in! Many happy times together that are now precious memories to treasure. These last few years of living sure does make us appreciate our times that we get to spend with those we love and care about. As we look back, we can count our blessings that God has watched over us during this trying time. Every morning that we wake up, we can thank God for giving us another day to live for Him and be grateful.

As a Christian, our life is centered upon that one Lord who has created us in His own image, redeemed us with the precious blood of His Son, and sustains us day after day with the gift of His Holy Spirit. We are a people called to worship and to give God our praise and prayer of thanksgiving.

Even though we are now a “fast food” nation and a “take out” culture, Thanksgiving is the one day when we remember old recipes, rekindle and rebuild family relationships. Thanksgiving is a time when we look around the table and give thanks for our roots and our reasons for being together.

In the midst of our celebration, let us stop and think of those who are serving our country somewhere around the world, those who have someone missing from their table and are grieving, or those who are struggling with cancer or covid or some other illness, and those in other faraway lands who are not as blessed as we are with so much food to eat.

We are a blessed people and now that this holiday is here, let us pause to truly give thanks for Jesus and for our simple blessings that we sometimes overlook. the real thankfulness that Thanksgiving should bring out in each of us is not a thankfulness for “things”. It is not about who we are ,what we are eating, or what our shopping strategy is for the next day but it must be rooted in our gratitude for the great relationship we can have with the risen Christ who calls each of us to trust Him and be part of a glorious hope for a better world!