Thursday is Thanksgiving, which marks the official start of the holiday season. (We know that some of you believe the holiday season actually starts as soon as the Halloween costumes are put away; those of you who believe that likely already have wrapped up your holiday shopping and are signing the last of your Christmas cards. We respect that, but we’re not in that camp.)

One unfortunate side effect of our race to the holiday season is that it gives Thanksgiving itself short shrift; the holiday becomes little more than a speed bump on the way to Black Friday. But Thanksgiving might be the most undervalued of all our major holidays — and this might be because we tend to undervalue the importance of gratitude, the emotion that goes hand-in-hand with the holiday. The value of Thanksgiving is that it is a day specifically set aside for calm reflection about and gratitude for our blessings.

The calendar will turn from Thanksgiving to Black Friday soon enough, and we’ll get swept into the whirlwind of the holidays. Thanksgiving should be a day that is insulated from that whirlwind.

But, believe us, we understand that life moves so fast that it doesn’t seem we have the time to be grateful.

Well, Abraham Lincoln also had plenty on his to-do list back in 1863, what with the Civil War raging and all, but he still found time in October of that year to issue a proclamation declaring a national day of thanksgiving. (Historians note that George Washington also declared a national day for giving thanks in 1789, but before Lincoln’s proclamation, it was up to the states to declare their own days of gratitude.)

Lincoln was busy enough that he delegated the writing of the proclamation itself to his secretary of state, William Seward. Seward did himself proud.

Here’s part of what Seward wrote: “The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.”

Lincoln’s (and Seward’s) call for Americans to take time for gratitude resonates today. It’s easy, as Seward knew, to take blessings for granted.

Don’t do that this year. Here is our Thanksgiving Day wish for you:

Before you start charting out shopping schedules, before you start clearing the space for the tree, before you turn on the TV to view the parades and football games, before you drag out the Christmas music from the dark nook where you’ve stashed it (really, that can wait until Friday), try this first:

Set your feet flat on the ground. Take a deep breath. Another one. And then another.

Then just take a minute or two to actually give thanks. Do it silently, if that works for you. If you’re a list-maker, jot down a few notes. Share your list if you like — it might start a conversation around the dinner table.

Need a place to start? Offer thanks for what Seward called the “blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.” That resonates in Wallowa County. Or remember that “Thanks” is one of the writer Anne Lamott’s three essential prayers. (The other two? “Wow” and “Help.”)

And if you need further inspiration, consider these words from Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night:” “I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.”