Thanksgiving, Thanksgetting

I don’t know where I’ve been recently.  I mean, I read the news and I’m on social media – but somehow I missed the term “Thanksgetting” until today.  I kind of wish I’d missed it today too.  I came across it in on a blog and at first thought Kelly Griffiths made it up.  Until I googled it and realized companies are using the term on purpose, as if it’s a good thing.

Clicking onto a popular cell phone service page the word, “get” jumped out at me.  So I counted how many times it appeared on just that one page.  It appears 29 times.

My teenage daughter assures me it is just a joke – a marketing tactic. Companies are giving you something – you get something.  Which makes me pause and wonder if I’m becoming as worked up over this word as I got the last few Thanksgivings when the table discussion was dominated shopping?  #Thanksgetting on twitter reveals that I’m not the only one bothered by this term.

Maybe I’m getting old and soft in the middle, but instead of anger, I feel sad. Sad that our country has gotten so far from where we started.  Did you know Thanksgiving didn’t come from the pilgrims?  Me either. Check out The Thanksgetting Holiday to see where Thanksgiving really originated.

I realized I’m not going to stop people from jumping from their seats and rushing out the door to get just what the have to have but didn’t know they needed until they say the sales flyer. Nor am I going to stop our country from acting like that’s normal and I’m the odd one for raising an eyebrow.  And I highly doubt my little boycott will make much difference at all. Truth be told, I have my little Black Friday list.  And if I look deep in my heart, I would be embarrassed to admit, if someone told me a 7.5 foot pre-lit Christmas tree was on sale on Thanksgiving Day for a killer deal that would be gone by Friday, and you could order it online – I’d be the proud owner of a new Christmas tree.

So where do we go from here?  Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day to pause and be thankful for what we have. And more than that, to be thankful to our Creator for who He is and His continual love, mercy and grace He continually pours on us.  I suspect God cares a whole lot less about the legalistic debate on whether to shop on this day or that, than He does about our hearts.

In God’s eyes, Thanksgiving Day isn’t the last Thursday in November.  In 1 Thess. 5:16-18  He tells us what day(s) to be thankful.  “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”  Always. That’s when we are to be thankful.  In the good. In the bad.  Because God is always good and He is always working all things for good.  (Rom. 8:28).  Do we have a heart of gratitude on Thanksgiving regardless of whether or not we shop?  Do we have a heart of gratitude the other 364 days a year?

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  Col. 3:17

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.” Psalms 28:7

“I thank God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy.” Phil. 1:3-4

I plan to take some time Thanksgiving morning to just sit quietly with my Creator and let Him know how much I appreciate Him and all the blessings He has brought into my life.  Then I plan to let each of my loved ones know how much I love and appreciate them.  I don’t plan to shop.  But if others do – is it my place to judge?  I’m going to just worry about my heart and how it looks to God and those I love.  The rest doesn’t really matter anyway.