Normally, there is a theme we tend to associate with every month we come to in the year. As we enter the month of November, the first thing everyone associates November with is Thanksgiving.

I remember back when my parents and Tios and Tias (uncles and aunts) were alive, everyone would gather on Thanksgiving Day at our parents’ home. I so looked forward to special holidays like Thanksgiving, Everyone would bring a special dish and we always had to get a big turkey to accommodate all the people who would show up.

Once everyone ate, us the kids would go outside to play and the adults would gather around as my father played his guitar and sang all kinds of Spanish songs, which would last way into the night.

We didn’t have much as a family when it came the material things of the world. I would say many would consider us to be poor. Yet, we always were able to joyfully celebrate any holiday with what we had.

I was raised in the Catholic religion and going to church and the Lord were always a huge thing with my parents. We faithfully attended Mass on Sunday’s and my parents, especially my mother, prayed a lot.

As I grew older and got a job, which caused me to have money of my own, I got caught up in all the things I never had growing up. Though I would buy groceries for the family every now and then, I sadly went on a spending spree, thinking I deserved those things.

Now that my parents and all my Tios and Tias are gone and that I have found Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I dearly miss those simple days when all I had was ‘Familia.’

I didn’t realize how blessed and rich I really was back in those days. Many of my friends in school had all the nice stuff, lots of presents under the Christmas Tree and the best of clothes to wear, but they didn’t have what I had, a large loving family (Familia) to enjoy any and all holidays which came around. It’s sad how easily we take the most important things of life, which are the most precious things of life, for granted.

I often tell the Lord how thankful I am for providing me with such a wonderful family to grow up in. I am not saying my family didn’t have issues to deal with but we were committed to keep our family together, no matter what it took.

We didn’t have lots of money, a big beautiful home with a swimming pool, nice cars to drive in and so much more but we had something many don’t have or realize they have and that’s ‘Familia’ which is worth more than this world could ever offer. For that I am forever thankful to the Lord.

Sadly, even as believers we tend to focus more on what we don’t have than on what we do have. When we start being thankful to the Lord for the things we take for granted, our perspective changes. Are your thankful for what the Lord has provided for you?

More importantly, when was the last time you expressed to the Lord how thankful you really are? Don’t wait for Thanksgiving Day to express how grateful you are to the Lord. Take time right now to express your gratitude to to the Lord, and do that on a daily basis. Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!