Be Thankful!

“It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. 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.”

In 1863, in the midst of the ravages of Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a Federal holiday. He declared the last Thursday of each November to be a day set aside by all Americans to give thanks.

Reading part of the declaration from President Lincoln I hope we realize this gratitude was not intended to be vague and ambiguous, with a day off work to focus on watching TV and eating too much food. It was meant to give us undistracted time to reflect upon all that we have been blessed with and purposefully enjoy those blessings that came by God’s generous hand.

We should pause and ask ourselves 157 years later: How much do we actually give thanks on the day of Thanksgiving? Do we ever really take at least one day to forget what we want and instead reflect on what we have? Has this day of contentment actually become a day of even more intense consumption?

Thanksgiving morning we will gather as a Church family to be reminded of our history and God’s many blessings! Hope you can join us!

Sunday I will be in Colossians spending a few minutes in my favorite Thanksgiving paragraph. God’s guide for Thanksgiving – Inside, Outside and Upside!

Pastor Mike