Turkey Day Festivities

C.S. Lewis once wrote that, "Thanksgiving is the day that we are committing selfishness, about to commit it, or repenting it." At least, that's what the C.S. Lewis quote generating tweet that I follow told me the day of Thanksgiving. At first, I misread the quote replacing 'repenting' with 'representing.' How do I "represent" thanksgiving right now I thought? Well, I'm eating, I'm with family, I'm about to watch football, I'm sending and receiving Happy Thanksgiving texts like a madman. If you really wanna know about, I don't really even like this holiday much. The shopping that has attached itself to it like some kind of parasite, all the consuming of turkeys (which Franklin wanted to be our nation's animal, seriously?) and basically all of it. Turkey isn't that good to me really, if you think about it the best part about turkey is the following day when you get to enjoy turkey sandwiches. Throw some cranberry on there, maybe some mayo...that right there is worth your time. The best items of the day, by far, are green bean casserole (of course my grandmother makes the best) and pumpkin pie (grandma also makes the best). None of this neither here nor there other than to explain my dislike for the day in general. And yes, we do represent this day I guess when we do all the things the holiday is about.
In the quote by C.S. Lewis, the accurate one, he is making an interesting point about being thankful. Repenting selfishness is to be thankful. To forget about yourself and realize what has been given to you brings one to a state of thankfulness. Maybe that is what I miss in this Holiday. Maybe that is what I miss a lot of the time. I'm usually committing or about to commit selfishness in some way or another because I am usually missing the point, focused on such a tiny piece of this world - myself. This year, however, was the first Thanksgiving, sadly, that I think I truly am thankful. This year I represented the word "Thanksgiving" rather than the holiday. I was able to forget myself, step back, and recognize the blessings I have. In doing so I repented from selfishness. A wise man once told me that often times it seems like you are skipping from one stone to the next in life...jumping from one to another in a zig-zag pattern. When we stop and turn around to look back, however; we'll often find a straight path. The more we repent the more we rectify that path, the more direct it becomes. I hope everyone repented from selfishness this Thanksgiving and represented the word instead of the idea.