There is some good research that backs up the idea that feeling gratitude for the good things that have happened to us is good for us, individually and as a group. Many people today have doubts about the sort of God the Pilgrims recognized but everyone can see that various difficulties that are known possibilities have not befallen them.
Just one example of a path to gratitude is the series of events that led to a marriage. Similarly, if you look into the process that made you and me, you can't help but realize that our moms had bodies and chemicals that took the mix from her body and Dad's and made a literally incredible being in roughly nine months. When I think of the many other males that expressed an interest in partnering with my wife as an alternative to me, I am surprised that things worked out the way they did. When I think of the microbes and the genetic pitfalls that my child dodged and lucked out all the way to a healthy birth and childhood and adulthood, I certainly have plenty to be grateful for.
Sometimes, people advise me to "count my blessings" but in truth, I can't. I don't know them all. I can't count them. I do know some of them and I hold onto them tightly and thankfully.
Last year, at Thanksgiving, I read some about the Pilgrim's first few months in the new world. If you picture arriving at a shore at a higher latitude than you planned (Massachusetts instead of Virginia) in a wooden boat, with little knowledge of what to do and how and when, you can picture the challenge they faced. No power tools, no electricity, no front-end loaders, no roads, no gasoline, no stores, no food, no stoves, no kitchens.
If you want, stop by the National Homestead Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska and read about those lured by the promise of land to be had if only one lived on 160 acres for five years, built some housing and raised some food. 60% of those who tried failed for one reason or another.
If you can stand, if you can walk, if you can see or hear, if you have shelter or food or heat or friends or a purpose, give thanks.
