As we conclude our GRATITUDE series I pray we never stop giving THANKS to God!

In the frustration, discouragement and sadness, sometimes even anger, about all that we are “losing” in North America, my prayer this Thanksgiving season is that we do not take for granted this North American holiday.

Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the United States of America. It is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of November. The first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the pilgrims after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. These New England colonists were in practice of prayer and fasting to give thanks to God and to ask Him for protection and guidance. The first Thanksgiving was a three day long feast thanking God for the successful harvest, their families and new friendship with the Native Americans who helped them!

Thanksgiving was celebrated nationally with a proclamation by our first President George Washington in 1789. However, Thomas Jefferson chose not to observe the holiday and it was put on hold until 1863. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” Lincoln called on the American people to also, “With humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience- fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal wounds of the nation…”

Sounds like the perfect proclamation for our Nation today!

Abraham Lincoln declared it to be observed on the last Thursday in November.

On June 28, 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into law in the ‘Holidays Act’ that made Thanksgiving a yearly appointed federal holiday. President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the date to one week earlier and there it has stayed.

The observance of a holiday, a day set aside to Give Thanks to God for His provision, is nothing to take for granted!  

As Halloween becomes one of the most popular holidays in America and the most decorated, only to be surpassed by Christmas immediately after, Thanksgiving is in danger of becoming ‘The Forgotten Holiday.’ I believe as Christians we need to thank our God and our country for a day to “Give Thanks” to God. It is an opportunity for us to demonstrate God’s Love. We can invite others to feast with us. We can have hearts full of gratitude and thanks and ask God to forgive us when we fall short. 

Above all we can remember to be thankful and grateful for the privilege of celebrating Thanksgiving!

“Give thanks with a grateful heart, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

I Thessalonians 5:18

TRUTH BOMB

GIVE THANKS WITH A GRATEFUL HEART, IT IS A PRIVILEGE!

LET’S PRACTICE

T – Time – Thank you God for time with those I love.

H – Hot Chocolate – Thank you God for the joy of drinking hot chocolate with my grand babies.

A – Apples – Thank you God for apples. I especially love them with almond butter and cinnamon.

N – New Friends – Thank you God for bringing new friends to our church.

K – Kettle corn – Thanks you God for kettle corn at Apple Hill enjoyed every year with my family.

S – Snow – Thank you God for SNOW! I LOVE the snow! I love skiing in it, sledding in it, building snowmen in it and throwing snowballs from it. I even love just staring at it!

G – Green Grass – Thank you God for luscious green grass that looks like a velvet blanket spreading over the rolling hills.

I – Invitations – Thank you God for invitations to meet new people and to invite people to church!

V – Vines- Thank you God for grape vines that show your splendor through every season.

I – Ice -Thank you God for Ice.  I really do not like warm drinks!

N – November – Thank you God for the month of November when the weather turns cool and we get to celebrate Thanksgiving.

G – Gifts – Thank you God for the many gifts you so generously give us.

Now it’s your turn! What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!

May we never take for granted the true gift that it is to give THANKS to our Great God!

Speak Truth Love