It seems that for some, Thanksgiving is simply a day on the calendar that comes once a year.  A day when they enjoy good food, perhaps join together with family or friends for a time of visiting and getting to know one another again.  And, it might even be a day when they take a few moments to reflect on the good things in their life.

For others Thanksgiving is a time of dread, a time of loneliness and lonesomeness.  Perhaps they have lost the one they were most close to, or perhaps they never really had any to love, and who loved them in return.

I have experienced times of enjoyment, times of sharing, and times of being with family and friends.  And, I have also experienced times of loneliness – times of yearning for what once was, for sweet family and friends who have gone other directions. . . or perhaps it was I who changed course.  Occasionally there has been a Thanksgiving day throughout the years when I felt abandoned and alone.  It was in those times that I determined to find a way to be thankful.  To make a difference in my situation – whether by reaching out to another in need, or simply focusing on the needs of those around me.

Overall, it seems to me that thankfulness should be something we experience all throughout the year.  It should be there in the back of our mind, in our heart, regardless of what life may throw at us.  To be thankful is to open new doors of communion with others, to cause us to reach out to those who may be in need, and most importantly. . . to cause our own heart to be softened and made pliable, ready for the next opportunity for love and laughter.

The opposite of thankfulness is to be ungrateful.  Now, I have met only a few truly ungrateful people in my life.  More often than not, the ones we feel are ungrateful are really just busy, self focused individuals who have gotten caught up in their own little corner of the world.

True ungratefulness is more than an attitude.  It is a mindset, a determination to find nothing to be grateful for.  Perhaps this individual has been wounded with life issues and can’t find their way out of the maze of hurt and anger.

Today I challenge you (and me) to find ways to be thankful; because you see, I believe that true thanksgiving (giving thanks) is an attitude of the heart.  We can choose whether to be ungrateful, miserable individuals, or . . . we can choose to be grateful and find something better that may be waiting for us just around the corner.

Yes, I guess I do believe that Thanksgiving is an attitude of the heart. . .