It’s Thanksgiving, and it’s hard to not note that in my blog. But I hope that this isn’t perfunctory … I pray that you are thankful, not only on Thanksgiving but year round.

 

Check this out – a little history lesson. 

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God…” —George Washington, 1789.

I’d just bet that as you approach Thanksgiving, you’re busy. The holidays can wear you out. 

We tend to think that life 232 years ago was much less hectic. Well, pilgrim, I bet you aren’t faced with birthing a new country after the paroxysm of war. That’s what President Washington and the Continental Congress were faced with. 

Not an easy task. I’ll bet they logged in some tough days and long nights.

Was thanksgiving worth it? You bet it was. 

But George, who was a pretty smart guy, and certainly grateful for the Providence that had brought them through some serious trials and an uncertain future, realized, along with his fellow countrymen, that there needed to be a day set aside for giving thanks. It was very much a religious remembrance then.

If you want to go back further, the first (or one of the first) accounts of a Thanksgiving feast was between the Plymouth colonists and the Native American Wampanoag tribe in November of 1621. The menu included lobster, seal, and swans. (I’m good with one out of three of those items. Maybe I’m missing something yummy.) The feasting lasted three days – if you count eating leftovers, that’s pretty much the same now – but there were no cakes or pies. No desserts – the colonists didn’t have ovens, and very little sugar. Historians think that most of the meals were prepared using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods.

I mentioned George Washington. Fast forward to 1827. The noted magazine editor and prolific writer Sarah Josepha Hale, started a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. That rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”?  She wrote that. 

After tirelessly campaigning for the holiday, sending letters to governors, senators, presidents, and other politicians, Abraham Lincoln finally agreed to her request. A few states had been observing a day of thanksgiving, but it wasn’t celebrated nationwide. 

The proclamation came on October 3, 1863, and even someone with a rudimentary knowledge of American history knows that this was smack-dab in the middle of the awful Civil War. 

Here’s an except from the proclamation:

“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.”

I mean. Wouldn’t it be great if that was our national spirit today?

It strikes me that the first Thanksgiving was a true thanks giving. The other two cited were also. Both of them, at the hands of our most renowned presidents, came about at a time of history being written with lightning. But Washington and Lincoln both knew that it would be wrong to not acknowledge God’s hand of blessing, even when there were national struggles. 

Both of these gentlemen no doubt wondered what the future held for their country. 

Listen. Our lives are busy and complicated. It might be that some life goals you’ve had for you and your loved ones have been sidelined – you’re just focused on getting through the day. You may even be wondering what the future holds for our country (with apologies to my foreign readers.) 

There are lots of questions we all have. Lots of uncertainty. 

So what is God’s will for you and me right now?

Let’s keep it simple. Here is ancient script from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 

If you’re cowering before the future, Paul gave us a simple picture of God’s will for us.

Be joyful. Pray all the time. Be thankful no matter what. 

Happy Thanksgiving! Talk soon.