I mean, you have to be able to come up with something to say at Thanksgiving, right? So I’m thankful for that.

We all know the origin story, and we all know people that are upset by the origin story and what it implies for them. This post isn’t about that.  It’s about the spirit that hopefully inspires in all of us a willingness to take a pause, make an assessment, and realize that there are good reasons to be grateful.

Lincoln made official in 1863 something that had been happening organically for a long time – the idea of a day to count blessings and be grateful.  And regardless of your view of the first Thanksgiving and the centuries that followed it, the principle is a good one.  Why shouldn’t we take time to look at the good that exists in our world and be thankful for it? I find that you don’t even have to try that hard to find something – you just have to do it.

So tomorrow my wife and I will do the traditional thing and host a feast for a group of about 19, in our case almost entirely family.  We’ll eat too much, we’ll talk a lot, and our labors will be very different from a typical day’s labors. And then it will be done for another year, and we’ll turn our attention to the rush to get ready for Christmas and the New Year.

Will it make much of a difference in our day to day? Probably not, but it’s still worth doing. Gratitude is one of the highest of the virtues, and I believe we have a serious gratitude deficiency these days.  That’s not to minimize the problems of those that are suffering, but when so much of our focus goes there, it becomes harder and harder to see the good.  And there is plenty of that, if you look for it.

So my wish for all of you is that you see the good tomorrow, and you take pleasure in it, and remind yourself what’s really important. And thank you to all with whom we here at Pendant collaborate and associate. We extend our best wishes to you for a happy and healthy Thanksgiving holiday.