We just finished the first week of November, the month of Thanksgiving. What a cherished time of year this is as we reflect on the wonderful blessings we received throughout the year. I'd like to focus my articles on these blessings, the traditions we have, and the tremendous history of this special American holiday we get to celebrate.

Sadly, many Americans don't fully understand what the Pilgrams actually went through and why they were so grateful to celebrate this time of Thanksgiving. It was such a courageous endeavor to sail across the ocean to a land they'd never experienced knowing they'll most likely never return to Europe and the family and friends they left behind. What a brave people!

What happened to cause them to make such a daring voyage? Here's a brief explanation of why the Pilgrams came to flee England found in Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647 by William Bradford:

"So may, therefore, of these professors as saw the evil of things in these parts, and whose hearts the Lord had touched with heavenly zeal for His truth, they shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord's free people joined themselves (by a covenant of the Lord) in to a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them something this ensuing history will declare."

These people were being persecuted for desiring to live and worship their God as they chose. They desired freedom and fled to The Netherlands where they could live as they believed God called them to live. This came as a great sacrifice for these humble people:

"Being thus constrained to leave their native soil and country, their lands, and livings, and all their friends and familiar acquaintance, it was much; and thought marvelous by many. But to go in to a country they knew not but by hearsay, where they must learn a new language and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate; a case intolerable and a misery worse than death."

Wow! And this was only their first flight! How excited and frightened they must've been to embark on a journey to freedom. They knew real thankfulness because they lived through the risk of major change for the hope of a better life.

How does this apply to real estate? Well, we may never again be in a time when we must say goodbye to our loved ones forever when we embark on a journey, but don't we have to make great change to create a better life for our families? Some clients we encounter as agents are embarking on a frightening, sometimes lonely new path in life. One thing I always desire to do is help them see the hope in new beginnings.

Let's start this month being thankful for all that comes our way in this life. Because we are alive, we always have hope and can be thankful for our lives and those we get to share it with. I look forward to exploring more about the history of my favorite holiday of all this month, and I hope to hear your stories of thankfulness.