Happy Thanksgiving Day! We hope you are able to spend at least part of the day today taking it easy and enjoying some fellowship with family and friends.

All too often our hectic lifestyles elbow their way into the holidays, disrupting the very purpose of the day we set aside to celebrate.

Today, the world will not end if you don’t get the best deal on a pre-Black Friday special sale. Nor will one’s life be less fulfilled if Facebook is ignored today.

Our modern world has us preoccupied with things that, well, don’t really matter that much.

Things that we view as “problems” would be laughable to many people in the rest of the world who are less fortunate. Someone dubbed the phrase, “first world problems” to describe such things.

America is a great nation, one that is blessed beyond belief. But we also tend to take our blessings for granted and complain when we should merely be thankful.

Even for those among us who must face the holidays with a sense of grief over the loss of a loved one should still find hope in their own abilities to enlighten the lives of others. Sometimes that can come in the form of simply being there for others and lending an ear.

We’re taught from a young age the power of simply smiling and being polite, saying “please” and “thank you” to others.

Today, before, during and after the trappings that surround Thanksgiving, let’s all take a moment to say, “Thanks,” to the ones in our lives that matters and offer thanks to God for giving us all that we have.