Thanksgiving: A Spiritual Influencer Perspective

GiveThanksing aka Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite times of year. I love the spirit of Thanksgiving and what it stands for in my family.

When I was a kid, I loved watching my grandmother make her famous rolls (the way she would dip them in melted butter and put them on the baking sheet is a core memory that still makes my tummy smile), holding hands around the table to say what I'm thankful for, and the overall energy of that day.

Once I became a working mom, I realized that Thanksgiving was one of the rare times that we all got the same days off to be together. That alone made it a day to be grateful for!

I began to research Thanksgiving to try to understand what led to its becoming a national holiday. I knew it had to be about more than early settlers sitting down to dinner with America's indigenous people. More than that, celebrating the establishment of a toxic relationship that ultimately resulted in a series of disingenuous treaties, disenfranchisement, and bloodshed goes against my personal and spiritual integrity (not to mention the proud Choctaw strain in my dna).

I love this country and believe that it its founders attempted to base it on spiritual principles. That being said, it's important to acknowledge that, in the pursuit of its establishment and expansion, the United States (like any other nation since the beginning of time) has serious blood on its hands. 

I am thankful that President George Washington seemingly felt the same. In his first official Thanksgiving Proclamation issued on October 3, 1789, he called for Thursday, November 26, 1789 to be a national day of "public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.” He goes on to request that the country "then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions". America's first president ends the Proclamation with this recommendation that American ask God "to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed—to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord—To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us—and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best."

Imagine what this country might be if that original Proclamation had become our mandate. The blessing is that it still can if 'we the people' begin to truly take spiritual (notice I didn't say religious) responsibility for ourselves. 

I started by saying that I love Thanksgiving and what it stands for in my family. I am so grateful that my love for my family, and the desire to give them a true understanding of what this day is about inspired me to look beyond the myths and folktales that Madison Ave. has seared into the fabric of American culture.

Today, part of my GiveThanksing prayer is that the Holy Spirit (with all of its power, love, and sound mind) meet each of us right where we are and take us higher so that who we are and how we live becomes a reflection of the God that created us rather than the world around us.

PRAYER OF PROTECTION

The LIGHT of God surrounds us. The LOVE of God enfolds us. The POWER of God protects us. The PRESENCE of God watches over us.

WHEREVER we are, God with us and within is greater than the spirit of the world. By His spirit we are loved, we are protected, we are whole, we are safe, and we are free.