Thursday, November 26, 1998

Being thankful for Thanksgiving

To have looked at the spread at that first New England Thanksgiving in the autumn of 1621, you would have thought the Pilgrims had rediscovered the Garden of Eden.

The 90 Indian guests had brought along five plump deer to accompany the wild turkeys, lobsters, clams, cod, bass, greens, corn, gooseberries, strawberries, cherries, plums and wild-grape wine. There was even popcorn covered with molasses, some historians tell us.

But despite appearances, life in the Plymouth settlement had been disastrous since the landing a year before in the Mayflower.

The wilderness was fraught with perils, the past winter had been bitterly cold, there hadn't been enough to eat, and the Indians were a constant threat.

Disease and other causes had taken the lives of more than half the original 101 settlers, and the survivors were demoralized.

So when William Bradford, their governor, proposed setting aside three days for feasting, rejoicing and giving thanks to God, the colonists might have been justified in thinking him mad.

He wasn't, of course.

The Pilgrims did rejoice; they did express their gratitude for the good in their lives, such as an ample corn crop; and they found themselves uplifted and rejuvenated. They made it through another winter, and then another and another.

That's just one story about a transforming Thanksgiving in the midst of devastation. Thanksgiving, it is worth remembering, did not become a regular national holiday during an era of unblemished prosperity, but after a proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln in the middle of a bloody, devastating Civil War.

Still, Lincoln called the nation's attention to its bounty and invited his fellow citizens to praise God.

The lesson of these Thanksgivings is that it's regenerative and hope-sustaining to recognize, celebrate and give humble thanks for the good in our lives - for the miracle of life itself, for the beauty of the Earth, for this land of liberty, for our families and friends - even if much is bad in our lives.

Somehow, in the act of giving thanks, we multiply what it is we have to be thankful for, and therefore one of the things we have to be thankful for this Thanksgiving is the Thanksgiving holiday itself.