“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Do you know what I love most about the concept of being given the chance; to commemorate a “Thanksgiving” Day—as “a Day”—we all should be thankful for? We can take away the running lights, we can take away the festive music, the ringing bells, and the heartwarming songs, and we can even take away all the gifts, that are still unwrapped under a tree—what do you get? As far as I’m concerned, I see a “Thanksgiving Day” which seemed a lot like the most perfect day to genuinely celebrate the most pristine spirit of “Christmas.”

That is to say—We all seek to exist inside the same state of mind, (The mind of Jesus) sowing the seed—to frame the “Spirit of Giving,” (His grace) and that goes hand in hand with—whenever each of us has been given something, of anything in return, which we can then reciprocate “the returning part of it” to a choice of welcoming “it” with the same spirit of giving—only “the giving part” all wrapped, in the form of openly—receiving “it” as a gift, (through faith). Subsequently, it is a lot like how we can utilize our free—will, to receive our salvation—knowing—we were saved by grace through faith. Where the very walk of our faith alone can only get us so far, as to get us close enough to the starting line where two roads meet. To actually cross that line is an actionable collaboration—On one side, it will be only Jesus doing all the paving of the road, and Him saying to us, “I am the way,” our part of the way, is to only believe—“As He is, so are we in this world,” by following His lead—through the act of thanksgiving, (as our personal written “His—story” of “The book of Act.”)

Hebrew 12:2 told us, “Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith,” Romans 10:17 answered it from within the same conversation to include each of us to it, “Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God,” when God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, from the very beginning of time—And then, Psalm 119:105 spoke to me about consuming the same light of it, through the manifestation of walking in His light inside my personal prayer, “O Lord—Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path.”

It was our God—The Father, who sent us His Son—Jesus, as the Gift of Christmas. I don’t know about you, but every time I get the chance to think about Christmas, I automatically think of a particular tree, standing in the middle of everything, with so many various types of fruits, dangling like goodies, and foodies from every branch—as if stretching the arms of breakfast onto lunch. It would be Jesus who will be lighting up the world, of course, to put in our hearts, His Heart of Thanksgiving— “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain to multiply it and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of the trees and increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.” Ezekiel 36:26-30

It was Jesus and through His birthday—opened that very gift on our behalf, as for us to see that gift as actively tangible, enough to embrace such a truth, to indeed be true, we must first do our part of the walking—part of it, or the seeing, and the opening—part, beyond the scope, of not just limited to our own feet, or just basing everything through the finite amplitude of our eyesight. When God first created man, God said, it was not good for man to be alone, for man to be alone, in hindsight, will be limiting God’s overall creation. As 1 John 4:16 puts it in an uncontainable containment, “God is Love” and what do we instinctively already know by heart, about love? Love has this philosophical prerequisite to be fruitful, and to be bountiful, to then be multiplied. Our feet and our eyes “too” need to be readapted, “all I’s” needs saving, needs guidance, needs authority, just as we all need a much greater light to see the unseen. God said, “Let there be light,” and the “Light” came and walked amongst us, for us to see how Jesus will be the only One, that has the right to light the way. And yet, we too must then do the same, from within the same likeness of Him—we must open Him as a gift or as how one would joyfully turn on the light, which was our novel authority, God has gifted unto us through the spirit of a “Thanksgiving Day” to remember— “Through Him, all things were made, and without Him, nothing was made that has been made” John 1:10

I was not born in America, but as a kid, growing up as a Filipino—American, (In the same way, as I wasn’t born as a Jew or as a chosen person, as to be a part of God’s chosen people of the Old Testament tribe of Israel) I understood very little about how to truly celebrate “Thanksgiving” As far as I knew, it was independently as only an American holiday, (in the same way I thought salvation only favors the Jews) which dated to when the pilgrims, and the settlers, and the natives met at Plymouth rock, (I met my salvation at the rock of my faith) they ate dinner together and agreed upon a kind of a settlement—to put a home on a united stake of land. I guess you could call it, a great date to remember—a date that turned beautifully into a marriage. Anyways, all I cared about back then was, “Turkey Time” and anticipating what more to see at “dinner time” with all the families and relatives, getting together at a dinner party, and whoever was cooking, it all boiled down to a full room of people, saying, “Thank you!” to one another, more specifically, directed at all the food, (I mean, I got the basic rationality of it, but at the same time, I didn’t really get that whole point, because even as a little kid, I did not understand why we need a special day, just to be thankful for anything we have—when we can just do that same very thing, every day, anyway, every time, when it was time to eat—we can say our “Thank you” to each other, three times a day, every day) Otherwise, it was one of the best holidays I always look forward to, just the same.

Today, it seemed as if, there are more food for me to consider eating, aside from just the normal food on the table. Apparently, there was another table, but instead, for lunch or breakfast, this one was set up for the last supper for “Thanksgiving Day” There will be a lot of superfoods, which are meant to nourish, not just our spiritual side, but eventually the body and soul, to follow. As for the physical element, I found “Thanksgiving Day” as a national holiday that has been sown meticulously through many different roots, as well as much different symbolism—branching from religious methodology to the many reputable cultural endeavors; many people in the whole world’s institution celebrates this same holiday, only under each of their own various terms and dates—depending on the antithetical sentiments of each variant countries. In the US, of course, we celebrate “Thanksgiving Day” on the fourth Thursday of November, while in Australia, it falls in the same month, but on the last Wednesday, in Canada—on the Second Monday of October, in Brazil same as in America, The west African country, also in November but on the First Thursday rather than the fourth. Japan celebrates theirs on November 23. The Philippines, since it was once colonized by America in the first half of the 20th century, celebrated its Thanksgiving Day on the same day Americans celebrated theirs, and Japan also has done their own occupation of the same country during World War II, made “Thanksgiving” as a secret holiday, only to be revived out in the open, by the country’s standing president later, (Marcos) changed the date to September 21. These are just a few of the many examples of a long list of different countries and their distinctive dates, celebrating the same Holiday. I suppose it does not really matter much as to which day, “Thanksgiving Day” falls into, or as to which week, even month, just as long as we learn to adapt to settling a more thankful heart. We reap what we get to sow, as to amount what they can become, as a great “Harvest Day” for our tomorrows.

To speak about what seed to sow, and what we can expect to reap from it, right after it has all been said and done with, what could be left for us to anticipate later in our tomorrow’s future, and I would have to boldly say, plenty—that is, if we can point our attention at the second coming of a much greater harvest. I still have all the same thoughts, I had about “Thanksgiving” when I was just a kid, but I would also like to think, my frame of understanding—that too has also grown a little at the same time. Sure enough, we each have our own point of view of framing things, just as each of our feet, would feel more at home inside its own perfectly fitted shoes. Although, I as a son of a shoemaker, or a slipper—maker, I can’t help but wonder, what makes a perfectly fitted shoe—as perfect as it can be, when most of my life all that I dreamed to do was to fit into my father’s shoes, and how much more now when I think about my Father—God, who sent me His Son, did not just came, to fit me with the right shoes, He fitted me with a new one, and yet more, He also offered me a suit to wear when I am at work, He measured that suit Himself so to fit me inside His righteousness.

To wear any shoe is already a great privilege, to wear one that fits, that is a great gift, but to open a gift and find a shoe that fits perfectly, and comes with a suit that suited seamlessly with all my other needs, not just my feet but also befitting to make my hearts to sing for joy, that is altogether something more, which I do not think I can ever put onto words, to make others, who don’t yet even know there is a language of the spirit, would understand. It was why I had a great “kick” when I heard James 2:14, 18, 26 say, “What does it profit, my brethren if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?” — “But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” — “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” in most cases, as long as we have something to be thankful about, and that journey will be afoot.

I cannot stress enough though, how there is a lot for us to be thankful for, even in times when hope appeared to be under some sort of a recession period, or when we feel as if everything is at a lost, or when we feel defeated, or when our tank is running on empty, or when all the news we end up hearing, speaks of misinformation, I can understand how that could be very challenging to see if whether there was ever even anything left to be thankful about. Have you ever heard of the notion of the rumors of wars? I have come to believe we are in a war right now, and that battles are in the mind, and rumors as we would rather call them us, are weapons, manipulated by all the lies of our enemy, whose EMO, is to obstruct our eyes in seeing the truth. And the trust is, we have so much to be thankful for.

You are still breathing, aren’t you?

The sun still shines on you, every morning, doesn’t it?

Aren’t you still free to smile, to laugh, to feel joy inside your heart?

You are still very free to love and to be loved, and to share that love, and to turn that love as an inspirational testimony onto others. Okay, sure when we feel down or feeling sick, or caught a simple slight cold, it would be hard to stay positive and to think about anything to be thankful for, well, we have God, and we have Jesus living inside us as the Holy Spirit, saying, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” John 14:16-27

That my friend is the heart of “Thanksgiving” having Jesus where we can rest everything upon Him, and here is a good seed to sow from that, He already carried all our burdens, and sins, and sicknesses, and He died for them so that we too can overcome them all, to rise with Him. That is not just a promise anymore, but as He said it Himself, “It is Finished”

Hence, He already fulfilled that promise, at the cross. You may ask, if that was true, then how come I still do not feel all that dead to my sin, for I still feel shameful and lost, sometimes. That was the whole point of “Thanksgiving” with regards to whether you truly believe in all the things, you are thanking God for. The accountability of your faith has to coincide with the absolute truth as proof that you are flowing in by the spirit of Christmas, and only then, and only if it is truly true to you, that the spirit of “Thanksgiving” becomes more than just a holiday, when to eat a turkey, but about a celebration of answering your own question, about why the chicken in you, crossed the road, and the answer should be, because with faith, you are no longer afraid, and are now free to fly.

“Hallelujah—Lord—God, our Father in the heaven, and on the earth, our mighty stronghold of the Highest! We praise you O Lord; we honor you, we glorify your name, and we “Thank you!” most of all—for being our everything. You, O Lord will forever be the center of our universe, and we gladly revolve around your graceful allowances, just as we will surrender our hearts, to intimately orbit around your begotten Son. I thank you, personally O Lord, for giving us this day, our daily provision, proactive with an overflowing revelation—it is why I reach my hand out to you Jesus, just as your mighty hands, lovingly embraced mine, and then prepared my heart to be the dwelling place for the Holy Ghost. I love you, Father, I love you, Jesus, I love you Holy Spirit.

I thank you Jesus for all the blessings that you have given me and have given to every member of my family, as well as my every relative, and their family, and the family of those whom I consider, the family of my best friends, and that goes the same, when it comes to all my other friends, in general, and to all the future one’s yet becoming. Amen!”

Reminder: Please be advised that I believe our source's guide will always only be Our Father-God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the Bible alone. Whatever I may have said here must be placed under a personal investigation through your own private conversation with God (The Bible). My faith is still a seed, while I am still just a student who is trying to study and learn from the “Word,” the best I can, and I am only sharing what I have uncovered to find so far. The journey is a continuous conversation inside a personal relationship, and my objective is not to change your thinking in any matter, shape, or form, but only to maybe inspire you to rethink things. Traveling on the road of “Free—Will” the choice for that crossroad therein will always be yours to choose alone, with one exception, of course, you will never be alone. (FAITH: F=Find A=An I=In—road T=Through Him)

PS: Please feel free to leave a comment, or a simple “Hello fellow faith seeker” would be a great boost of inspiration to my Bible Study—I rather welcome them even more, and only if you agree with the message I am trying to pay—forwards, please do not hesitate to share this journey with other. After all—Faith never walks alone—Faith moves through the Love of God.