Hashtags have found a way into our lives and in our standard of communication.  These keywords or lettered initials are used for several reasons.  They increase the probability of likes on a post or picture.  They can link you to others who are expressing the same interest in a particular subject or person.  At other times, they make a statement without going too deep into content.

One of my favorite hashtags I see people use is #tbt (Throwback Thursday).  When you see these, people are sharing stuff that you may not have been privileged to see before.  Perhaps it was a photograph from an exotic honeymoon vacation many years before you met the individual.  Or, how about when people share pictures of themselves as babies or young children.  I like to look at these the most and compare their features to what I see today and mark the resemblance, and so on.

Throwback Thursday gives us a view to people’s past.  These moments shared are often joyful and heartwarming, bringing out the “Aww!” of nostalgia.

The more I think about it, the more it came to me that our Thanksgiving celebrations are like those throwbacks we see posted in social circles.  For it is at Thanksgiving, if we are nothing else, we are grateful.  When our minds take in the year we just went through – all the Lord God has brought us through, we are grateful.  When we see His hands working in things for which we had no control, we are grateful.  When we look back over our lives, when we take our own trips down memory lane and see His deliverances, His help, His love and mercy, His grace and anointing at work in our lives, we are grateful.  When we see those snapshots of where we have been and compare them to where we are now, we are grateful.

For at Thanksgiving, a time in our history, we set aside this day to express gratitude and thankfulness for what the Lord has done for us.  We enjoy a feast of good food.  We enjoy fellowship with family and friends (even if some of it is done virtually this year).  We come together for the reason of celebrating with like minds and like hearts.

While this year those gatherings may look different and the feasts for some may seem smaller or not quite what you are used to, let’s keep the grandness of this day – the reason for its purpose front and center: thankfulness for all God has done for us.

During this Thanksgiving, this throwback Thursday, reminisce on God’s faithfulness through this year and through your life.  In your mind’s eye, allow yourself to wander and spend some time on those beautiful snapshots, those past moments, those photographs of your life, and be reminded of His faithfulness at work.

And, while many of us can’t meet or come together as we usually do, we have those good memories of great love and times shared in the past.  We have the love and memories from our Heavenly Father and the love and memories of those blessed souls He has placed in our lives that we call family and friends.

Today, as I look back, I am thankful for so much.  In the little details and the grand adventures, I am thankful.

I have had times of tears and times of joy, but knowing God is still with me today and He has an even greater plan beyond what we see for this day or even for this year – I am thankful.

No wonder David wrote, “I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth,” (Psalm 34:1).  There will be some times that are harder than others, but it is God who sustains us and protects us, and loves us through it all.  Therefore, we praise.  Therefore, we still give Him thanks!

I pray that however this Thanksgiving finds you, it will find you in the peace and love of the Lord above all.  Blessings to you and Happy Thanksgiving!

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