Thanksgiving 2008

Wow, I did it, I started a blog! I am not sure what to make of it yet, but there are lots of things I could talk about.

Since Thanksgiving is just behind us, I would like to say a few things about that. It definitely is my favorite holiday. For one thing because we think about the "start" of our country, and the vision the pilgrims and other early settlers had to start a new life, in a new land, to be free. Because they were willing to go through the hardships, the suffering, the pain of leaving everything behind, including their comfortable, and know lifestyle, they plowed the way for us, and I am incredibly thankful for the role they played. What fascinates me the most is their vision, and the fact that they were a relatively small group..... Think about what one, or a few people can do. And there are so many other instances in our history where one man or woman has had a huge impact. And it always starts with a vision.

It says in Proverbs: "Without vision the people perish", and I think about that often. I think that many of those inflencial people in history had a connection with their inner self, their being, and dared to listen to the inner voice of God talking to them. That gave them the courage, the strength, the perserverance they needed to plow through. (I am mainly talking here about people with a positive impact; we can explore the negative ones another time.)

It brings me to the next thing I am so grateful for and that is the opportunity to homeschool our children. It is my gratitude for living in this country where we can (still) enjoy the freedom of teaching our own children at home. (I grew up in Holland where homeschooling is not allowed by law!) It is also my gratitude for actually being the witness of our children's development and coming into being. The fact that we can help them learn to think for themselves, by spending time together with them, by reading books written by great thinkers, by studying great thinkers of the past, and by just giving them the space to learn who they are, to get connected to their own inner being. It is a huge responsibility for us parents to give them the tools and provide the right environment for learning for them, but the rewards are so awesome, to see the process of learning take place right before your eyes, the forming of thoughts, ideas, creativity, the original things they express, and the persons you see them become. I will go deeper into homeschooling in a later post, but it is one of my greatest joys in life.

So, to me, a lot of what Thanksgiving is all about is the celebration of living in such a great country, started and based on such great principles as freedom and liberty for all, inspired by our Creator, the most important power of all. So many blessings have come forth. We have more opportunity to become who we really are here in this country than in any other country in the world! It makes me want to be awake and dilligent in protecting those freedoms, in keeping our eyes open for any encroachments upon them. We all have a responsibility to continue what our pilgrims started, so their efforts were not in vain.