REFLECTIONS ON THANKSGIVING DAY

Commercially, Thanksgiving Day is a forgotten holiday; and maybe that’s a good thing that it’s not commercialized.  However, the idea of giving thanks to the Creator of the Universe, who bountifully gives both small and great all good things, should never be forgotten and always be at the forefront of our society.  With Christmas commercialized in the public arena, and stores across from East to West soliciting our dollars, it is easy for our attentions to be diverted from God to the purchasing things. 

So, before we rush into the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, take a moment and reflect upon the many good gifts God has bestowed upon us as a people and nation – and GIVE THANKS!

I AM THANKFUL

I am thankful

for the air I breathe,

the cool, crisp morning air.

I am thankful for the gift of love

and the family with whom I share

the bounty of the season

as we bow our heads in prayer.

I am thankful

for the little things,

for shelter from the rain.

I am thankful for a summer day...

I am thankful for the pain

of lessons learned

and small misfortunes

cast upon the path;

for they lead me to the things in life

that are true and strong and fast.

I am thankful for so many things,

each one a gift to me

from one who knows that all we have

is sometimes hard to see.

Be thankful for the pleasures of your day.

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THANKSGIVING DAY PROCLAMATION 1623

Three years after the Pilgrims' arrival and just two years after their first Thanksgiving, on November 29, 1623, Plymouth colony Gov. William Bradford made this official, politically incorrect, proclamation:
"To all ye Pilgrims:
Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat peas, beans, squashes and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience, now I proclaim that all ye Pilgrims … render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all his blessings."
But it wasn't until just after the signing of the Constitution that Congress immediately moved to pass a resolution asking for a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer at which time George Washington intoned this famous proclamation in 1789:

[New York, 3 October 1789]