So Many Reasons to Give Thanks

By Hakim Abdul-Ali

It’s that annual time of the year in the United States of America when majorities of various ethnic families gather together for the Thanksgiving Day celebration. This day of peaceful appreciation and thankful remembrance is usually held on the fourth Thursday of every November.

The participating families which gather as a unit are probably ones that have so many reasons to be gratified and thankful for until they can’t help acknowledge same by expressing themselves with displays of beholden unity. I respectfully add to this assumption that I truly believe that God Alone blesses any sacred familial unit that has come together once again over prayer, food and goodwill.

I’m happy to see and know that so many different American ethnic family members feel so very connected to each other that coming together on this day of celebrating America’s uniqueness is a special occasion for them. Everyone feels cheery to be around family, friends and other loved ones on any occasion, but especially during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I trust that as you may read this article you’re a part of an adoring family unit that loves and cares about you during this gleeful seasonal highlight time of the year. There’s nothing like being around and among a unified family structure, complete with committed prayerfulness, untroubled festivities and sumptuous food.

And while thinking about that theme, I seem to be forever dwelling in the valley of spiritual reflections knowing that it’s so good to be alive at this very moment in time. For that acknowledgement alone, I’m truly thankful, relieved and blessed to be aware that all of this could only come about except by the mercy of God Alone.

Before reading any further, I’m asking you politely to take a brief moment’s pause to think about all of the many favors from the Lord of the creation that have been extended to you and every other living soul. Please don’t rush and pass that question off as mere happenstance as so abstract-minded ethnic folk may have a tendency to do.

I hope you’re not like that, and I still raise that proposition to you because, in my view and thoughts, every day really is a definitive moment in time to give thanks to the Most High Alone for you and me being present in the here and now. That’s as real as real can get because nothing would exist if was not created by or allowed to come into existence except by God Alone’s permission.

That’s why I firmly adhere to the divine attitude that there are “So Many Reasons to Give Thanks” until, I personally, don’t know where to begin in doing so. So, in my heart, mind and soul, and with due respect to the honor of and glory to the Creator Alone, I submissively have to say to you and everyone else that “All Praises are due to God Alone” for everything and everyone.

You must realize that I feel privileged to being able to utter that sentiment to you with an open declaration of peaceful greetings to everyone, along with a heartfelt flow of love for all during this austere time of the year. I’d  like to think that my candid, spiritual statement isn’t lost on you innermost sensitivities.        

If, by chance, what I just offered was not lost on your reflective mindset then you, hopefully, as an aware spiritual being, can’t argue with me, or any other spiritual souls, as to why we all must (and should) proclaim and give all praises and homage to the Most High Alone. After all, isn’t Thanksgiving supposed to be day harvesting good vibes and celebrating be grateful to God Alone for everything that we’re given?

Think about what I just said, if you already haven’t and, on this truly blessed occasion of this year’s Thanksgiving observances, I suggest that you never forget to thank the Most High Alone, and no other, for being alive in the moment to enjoy and celebrate the joys of Thanksgiving with your family, friends and loved ones. Yes, emphatically speaking, there definitely are “So Many Reasons to Give Thanks” until, in reality, you can’t count them all coming together, even if you tried.

Again, I ask you to seriously reflect on all the positive lessons learned from overcoming some, if not all, of your most recent pressing trials, tests and tribulations that you’ve experienced in the prior year from the last Thanksgiving to this present one. I believe with complete certainty that you have much to be thankful for in how you dealt with them all, just as I feel relieved to have faced and dealt with my own.

Maybe, just maybe, as you are now already in the mood for celebrating and eating the delightful holiday meal, please don’t forget that many others in the world are homeless, depressed and hungry. We all have much to be thankful in so many norms of expressions and, as a reminder, never forget that you’re only alive in this moment living, eating and doing what you’re doing because the Most High Alone as made it all possible for you (and all others) to do so.

To that understatement, I humbly advise that many of us here in this potentially great country need to recognize and we remember who create us and gives us a moment-to-moment wake up call to reflect on how fragile life really, really is. I know that I do and, as such, I also know why there are “So Many Reasons to Give Thanks” to the Creator Alone for everything that occurs in my worlds of existences with no hesitations attached.

So, I wish you, one and all, a daily, year round “Happy Thanksgiving Day.” That is expressed from the bottom of my heart to every “hue-man” being who knows how much he or she owes to God Alone for his or her very existence and sustenance.

When you do that, you’ll most likely  assume why I’m extolling the fact that you recognize why there are “So Many Reasons to Give Thanks” for everyone and everything, and I do mean everything. Never forget, especially knowing that each breath you take and every moment in this phase of living is a blessing from God Alone.

I feel that you fathom that this is where I’m at now in my current thinking, and that’s  enough for me to continually say to you that everyday is a “Happy Thanksgiving Day” in my book of reality. So, with peaceful love for all “hue-manity,” I pray that you enjoy all your cherished Thanksgiving moments in/on every day of the year and, for today and always, that’s, “As I See It.”