A Day to give Thanks

As I walked into the kitchen the aroma of turkey being roasted filled the air. It kind of saddens me that now days Thanksgiving and Christmas are probably the only two days of the year that the family will sit down together at a meal. I don’t know about many of you but this old man can still remember a time when meals were a family affair.

Benjamin Franklin proposed the turkey as our national bird and I have often wondered if we’d still be eating turkey on this day or not if he had his way. Its amazing though that this nation almost lost its chosen national bird but turkeys have survived and prospered throughout the time this nation has been in existence.

We, as a nation, have accomplished many things since our beginning days. We have grown from but a few to a size that takes up nearly half the continent now. We share this continent with but two other nations. Numerous wars dot the history of this country as we have grown. Many a man have died in the name we have given this nation and all valiantly and with honor.

A nation not united by the color of their skin, a nation not united by the religion that they practice, a nation not united by nationality, a nation not united by political affiliation or belief but a nation united in the spirit of the One above.

As Lincoln said when he made this day holy for all;

“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, tranquillity and Union.”

May I echo this invitation to all that visit this day. When the family sits down at the dinner table, take but a moment to give thanks to Him above for all that He has given us. Pray that He might grant forgiveness to a nation that so sorely needs it so that it may declare in truth that it be a nation that is under His care.

MAY EACH OF YOU
HAVE
A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING