To a lad growing up through the years, Thanksgiving to me meant food and lots of people would be coming to join us. It also meant play time for me; a time where a young, little boy of just 4 years old could have a few friends and/or relatives over for a day of socializing and having plenty of food and drinks, but there's also another part to Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving as I grew older and began to develop into being a man brought me to a realization that I'd like to share with you.

One evening on a rather cold Thanksgiving afternoon, the family gathered around Granddad's living room reading scriptures from the Bible. He was my Dad's father and a minister for 23 years of his life. During that gathering, I heard a verse read out loud by my Granddad that changed my way of thinking about the special day we call "Thanksgiving."

If your wondering what verse it is, take a look at John 3:16.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Now that is something to be thankful for if you ask me.

I began to take a stronger look at what Thanksgiving really means, and that's when I discovered what it’s all about.

I was just 11 years old at the time, and the lesson I learned that day stood out like no other lesson ever did.

It was that Thanksgiving day when I felt a warming in my heart and soul.

We shouldn't celebrate Thanksgiving just once a year.

We should be thankful for everything we have every day because the many blessings we have are granted to us by the Hands of the Almighty God. So, it’s not just once a year that this young man thanks the Lord for what he has received; it’s every day that he thanks God even for what he has not received too, for God knows when we're ready for our next step in life. It’s only then are we granted our tools and our desires, and here's how they all play a part in our lives, my friend.

The "tools" are what we need to reach our next level of advancement, and if used wisely, we shouldn't have any problems reaching that goal God has set before us.

As we reach each goal, we're granted something God knows we'd like to have or a wish we'd like fulfilled. But if we don't quite make the grade, we are told so by the growing pains in which we face in our daily lives. These are the struggles we go through in our attempts to reach our assigned goals sent to us through Christ Jesus, the deliverer.

Each phase and each assignment we're given also adds strength to our inner selves; thus, building stronger minds.

Just take a look at an infant trying his best to walk for the first time only to stumble and topple to the ground below him.

No matter what our age is, we too will stumble like that infant only to get back up with the helping arms of Christ Jesus to yet take another step forward. A step that will teach us that we should be thankful in all that we strive to do because success never comes without stumbling a few times. That's why I'm ever more thankful for a day when many people come together to say “Thank You” to God for giving us this daily nourishment to grow stronger.

This is how I see this very special day. A day we've grown to know as Thanksgiving!

May you all be blessed all year round!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y’ALL!!!