November, You Are Welcome!

It's a new month and one of my favorites.

The main reason November is one of my favorite months is because it contains Thanksgiving Day... the other holiday.

Thanksgiving remains very special to me. I think I like it because it is an exclusively American Holiday - oh other nations may celebrate a Thanksgiving Day, but ours is built around the stories that are uniquely American.

It is also a holiday with a distinctly Christian theme - which may be one reason it seems to be passed over by many. The day is all about pausing to give thanks to God. We cheapen it when we refer to it as "Turkey Day" as if food provided the significance of the event. Or when we focus just on football or the prelude to Christmas.

I am challenging myself to two things this season:

- First, I would like to start now and read, Of Plymouth Colony, by Governor William Bradford. Every couple of years, I check that book out of the library around this time of year and will read portions of it. But thanks to R. and the Christian Book Distributor's organization - I now have my own copy and so I would like to read the entire story. I will need to start that one right away.

- Secondly - and you can help me with this one - I want each and every post this month to be given from a perspective or attitude of thanksgiving.

Now I know that could be monotonous. I remember when we had to write and present speeches in the 5th grade on the subject of "Freedom in America" - or something like that.

There was a guy in our class named "Champ" whom I and my friends detested. I never picked on other kids very much - more times than not, I was in the position of the "pickee" rather than the "picker". But I felt justified in picking on Champ at times because he was so effected. He was a great fan of the television show "Bewitched" and would blink and snap his fingers(since he couldn't wiggle his nose like Samantha) as if he were snapping out of existence those that rose against him.

Anyway, Champ gave his speech and he did it from memory... he just presented a list: I am glad that in America I have freedom of speech; I am glad that in American I have freedom of worship; I am glad that in America I have freedom to eat ice cream...or this or that... on and on he went as we all groaned.

So I do not intend to present lists of things I am Thankful for, but I do hope to present everything through the filter of thankfulness.

And I would like to ask YOU to let me know if I step out of line.

I voted yesterday - Ab, AA and I braved the line for nearly one and one-half hours to cast our votes, so I feel some sense of closure about the election. At least my lot has been cast.

If things don't go the way I want them to, I will possibly find it difficult to be Thankful - but that is where the challenge of this month's challenge will come into play.

Incidentally, back in Mrs. Thornhill's fifth grade class - all the guys had to do their speeches over - except for "Champ" and some other nameless peon. She said it was because they were the only two boys that had made an attempt to present their speeches from memory. I think it was more likely her way of helping out a boy that the other guys wouldn't befriend.