As a nation we are about to embark upon the holiday season. It is amazing that this year has flown by so quickly. Tomorrow we will celebrate Thanksgiving. For many it is a day filled with turkey and football. Others will be relishing the start of Christmas shopping and flood the stores which will lure them with fantastic bargains. Just what are we giving thanks for during this season? Many will think back to that first Thanksgiving in 1621 at the Plymouth Plantation, where the Plymouth settlers held a harvest feast after a successful growing season. They will think back that if it had not been for the Indians the Pilgrims would have perished. During the American Revolutionary War the Continental Congress appointed one or more thanksgiving days each year. The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the Continental Congress in 1777. Delegate Samuel Adams created the first draft which read in part: For as much as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success….. To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost. George Washington proclaimed a Thanksgiving in December 1777 as a victory celebration honoring the defeat of the British at Saratoga and again proclaimed a Thanksgiving in 1795. President John Adams declared Thanksgivings in 1798 and 1799. Thomas Jefferson did not make any proclamations concerning Thanksgiving. James Madison renewed the tradition in 1814, in response to resolutions of Congress, at the close of the War of 1812. Madison also declared the holiday twice in 1815 In the middle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, prompted by a series of editorials written by Sarah Josepha Hale, proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day, to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November 1863. The document, written by Secretary of State William Seward, reads as follows: 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 a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln, October 3, 1863. What are you thankful for today? Can you truly look back on your life and say that everything that has happened has been by chance or luck? If you will take the time I think you can see that the hand of God was upon you too. The Bible tells us that the Lord is longsuffering in His patience for us and he does not wish that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. The only thing holding us back from salvation is our own stubbornness. We need to acknowledge the Lord for all his many blessings upon our lives. There will be those who will point out tragedy and circumstances that have occurred and are asking the question, Where was God during that event in my life? I wish I had the answer you are looking for. All I can tell you is that bad things happen to good people. Most of us are looking for fairness in life. We all want what is fair and just. It took me a long time to figure it out, but life is not fair. Our concept of fairness is a selfish thing. Life is what it is. Whether good or bad, we need to make the best of what we have. Why does the tornado hit this house and not that one? Why does this person die from cancer, and the criminal lives a long life? God holds the answers to all these things. We cannot always see or understand what God has in store for us. All I know is that we must trust Him and obey His word. We need to have faith in the One who holds the future in His hands.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 00:44:34 +0000