Turkeys, Touchdowns, and Thankfulness
“Freedom from Want” by Norman Rockwell
In Southern culture, three fundamental values hold incredible significance: Faith, Family, and Football. As Thanksgiving approaches each year, we add another essential element to that list: "Food." The combination of these four values is what makes Thanksgiving the best holiday in my estimation. Spending time with loved ones and reflecting on the year reveals the multitude of things in my life that I am thankful for. To better explain the divine importance of thankfulness we’ll dive into the four “F’s” one by one.
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Faith
Faith is the cornerstone of our joy. It is what guides our values and guards our hearts. Having faith, especially in a community, is an incredible gift as it provides a pathway for joy in our lives. In the Christian tradition, it proves paramount for even more than that, as we are blessed with eternal life through God’s sacrifice on the cross. Living among the redeemed multiplies the joys that we get to experience with one another. By this, I mean to say that living in a Christian community and being around fellow believers increases our joy as we get to experience all that our good God has made together in time everlasting.
This Thanksgiving, our family circled up in the living rooms of our respective venues and prayed aloud in gratitude for what our God had given us. This sacred circle of Thanksgiving is what the holiday is all about—thanking the powers that be for all that we have been given.
Family
While not everyone has the luxury of a good family, we all have those whom we love and trust. Loneliness is a terrible feeling in this world, as there are so many interesting, kind souls longing for another they can rely on. Chronic loneliness is said to increase one's chance of death by 14%. This epidemic is one of the many reasons why it is so important for us to appreciate the loving individuals to whom we are connected.
Having a community of supporters not only bolsters your emotional health but also provides you with resources for physical means of happiness such as a roof over your head or a slice of homemade pecan pie in your belly. So, next time you ask to pass the sweet potato casserole, remember to be thankful for the one who is giving you your side dish.
Football
While this may be specific to my family and region, this is meant to represent whatever brings you secular joy in this beautiful world in which we live. Though, I hope some of you can enjoy the incredible sport that is American football. For those wondering, I'm an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan, and we beat BYU this weekend in double overtime to head to the Big 12 Championships against Texas—quite an exciting weekend. For us, college football brings so much joy (and pain) to us and our community. It gives moments of beauty and excitement that allow us to cheer on our respective teams, gathering us around a collective source of beauty that embellishes our lives with something to look forward to beyond mere survivalistic provisions.
While my "football" may not give you the same joy that it gives me, I hope that you have that thing in your life that brings more than just order and purpose to your life. For example, you may prefer basketball instead, or art, or nature, or anything that brings an expectation of future joy. This hope for beauty is another source of joy that not everybody has and is not necessarily deserved, giving us all the more reason to be thankful for its special presence in our lives. So, next time your team hits the winning field goal, remember to give thanks for all the small moments of beauty that give you joy in this world.
Food
Food is an interesting category to be thankful for, as it is somewhat a combination of all the aforementioned "F's", and it can also serve as the glue that holds all the elements together in gatherings of this nature. First and foremost, food is tasty because God made it so. If He wanted to, He could have made it to where food had no flavor to us at all. Secondly, we trust those who have cooked it to not have poisoned it and to have at least attempted to make it tasty for our joy. Thirdly, the creation of food can also serve as a means for creating beauty which can bring secular joy to the chef.
Food also has another aspect to it that is special in that when we eat it together as a community, it serves as a means to bind us closer together by meeting both our physical need for food and our emotional need for community. This special attribute is seen many times in the Bible, with the feeding of the 5,000 and the Last Supper, to name a few instances of its special nature. Though simple, it can provide a profound communal impact like many of the items mentioned in this shortlist. When you're ogling your next Thanksgiving feast, remember the power that food can provide, and be thankful for the gift that a tasty bit of turkey can bring to your life and the lives of others.
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Finally, while my thankfulness for these simple things may seem too basic compared to the craziness that is modern life, especially in the college setting where concerns span from career paths to grades and relationships, I continue to keep coming back to these basics of life. My thoughts are consistently drawn, year after year, to Faith, Family, Football, and Food. Perhaps this inclination is a reflection of my upbringing, or maybe it underscores a fundamental truth. Amidst the complexities of life, we have much to be grateful for, prompting us to embrace the simplicity of these elements before delving into more.
In essence, it may be beneficial to consider the space we allocate in our minds for worries and intricate issues. By prioritizing the basics, we can experience gratitude with little, leading to reduced mental stress and clearer thinking unclouded by unnecessary concerns. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope you feel just a little bit more thankful this holiday season.