Hello again everyone and welcome in the name of Jesus Christ.
Well Thanksgiving is coming up pretty quick. Time to be thankful that we can get a couple of days off of school or work, and that we can eat like pigs for a day.... right? Although those three things aren't too bad, Thanksgiving is so much more. The following two paragraphs are an excerpt from a website I found when researching the true meaning of thanksgiving (there is a link at the end).
On October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by Act of Congress, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "on the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…
"…announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord… But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people…"
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/ednkc002.html
I could not agree more President Lincoln. Thanksgiving should be a time for all Americans to remember to give credit where credit is due. Who has brought us this far? Who made this such a great nation? Was it Mcdonald's or Starbuck's? Was it Ford or GM? Was it inventions like toilet paper or bubble gum or the airplane or artificial hearts? Although these companies and inventions are things we can be proud of, there is still something bigger.
Think about this. If my parents wire me some money to help me pay a month's rent because I am behind on bills, who is more important to thank? The company that wired the money and earned a profit while doing it, or my parents who graciously sent my sorry butt the money in the first place even if I may not have deserved it? I will give credit where credit is due. I will thank my parents. I'm not saying it is wrong to thank the person behind the counter who handed me the money, but I am saying that I had better thank my parents lest they feel uninclined to help me in the future.
So, who should we thank this Thanksgiving for our nation that we live in, for our jobs, for our families, for our lives and for our REDEMPTION!? It is the one true God in heaven our Father. Now, I am not implying that we should just forget about the people in our lives who make life better, such as the guy behind the counter at Western Union. But we should go a step further and thank God for those people as well.
If President Lincoln was right back then, how much more right is he now? We as a nation have lost sight of the true meaning of Thanksgiving. No wonder our nation has struggled to prosper as it once did. We are forgetting as a nation who the one true God is. We are so wrapped up in how WE can fix this and how our GOVERNMENT can fix that, that we have forgotten that it is God who is the answer and not our own abilities. The answer is simple. Thank God for the wonderful nation He gave our forefathers this Thanksgiving, and pray that He will fix it for us.
I know that this is a small blog and not many people read this, but it is still my earnest prayer that all Americans can some day soon unite and humble ourselves in giving our nation back to God so that He can lead us, and not twisted politicians.
Speaking of twisted politicians, this reminds me of a verse we read today in fellowship. It is 1 Timothy 2:1-2. "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." So we should give thanks to God for our President and others in authority (even if we do not agree with them) so that we can lead peacable lives. It would be a great benefit to our nation also to pray for all of those in authority, that they can make wise decisions and look to God for that wisdom. Much love and God Bless all of you in the name of our Saviour, God's only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
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I often wonder if most the world has forgotten the true focus of Thanksgiving. It brought a smile to my face to read this. I wish more people could get passed the commercialized material items that Thanksgiving and The holidays bring and remember what is really behind it. Not just great food (though it is yummy)or slaving in the kitchen, but that it is a thanks to God and to everyone who has been a light in my life. A thank you for protecting us and guiding us and for always believing in us. What matters most to me on Thanksgiving is God, Family, friends, coming together around a table reminiscing about all the small joys and all life has to offer and connecting to that which brings the most meaning to ones life for which God Has always been apart of.
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