With Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving has always been an incredible holiday experience in my family. Food, family, and fun have always been the norm resulting in a lifetime of memories that have helped shape my values and direct my life. This has given me a thankfulness for my past that is rooted deep in my soul.

I realize that my experience is not the same as everyone else's. I know how blessed I am. I know that those like me who find the holidays to be refreshing and full of joy have something truly amazing to be thankful for. I try very hard on a daily basis to live in a way that does not take it for granted. This stage of life is showing me on a daily basis what I have to be thankful for right now, today, every day.

Last year Thanksgiving changed. We were at my parents' farm where I group up. It was early in the morning. We were getting to ready to have breakfast when we got the news. My father in law had passed away early in the morning hours before dawn.We were close. He would frequently supervise me as I tackled projects way beyond my skill set—offering up his expert advice and informed opinions—all smothered in generous helpings of his winsome sarcasm. 

Over the years I had come to love and appreciate our conversations. They were packed with questions. He would quiz me on different passages of scripture and I would share my opinions. We disagreed almost as much as not and I ALWAYS came away learning something even though I was the one being asked the questions. 

His passing hit me hard. He had become a second father to me. Of course I was sad, as most people are when losing someone they care for, but I was reassured by one simple passage of scripture that I have probably heard hundreds, maybe thousands of times.

“Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A year ago that's exactly what he did. It was a reminder of the joy that awaits us. In an era of cultural uncertainty it has renewed in me a sense of thankfulness for the future.

July 1 - Where Are The Nine?

Read: Luke 17:11-19

Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?" (Luke 17:17 ESV)

While traveling ten lepers heard Jesus was passing their way. They went to meet him so that they might be healed. Jesus healed them and told them to go to a priest to reveal their healing to him. As they went and were healed only one of the ten thought to turn back to Christ and offer him thanksgiving for the miraculous healing.

Sometimes it is all too easy to take something great God does in our lives for granted. I know I seem to do it often. It is only well after the fact that I usually realize what I have done, if I even notice at all. What is it about us that makes us do that? In those moments I would have to count myself among one of the company of nine that was cleansed by Jesus and failed to say thanks.

Any time we willingly sin in spite of the grace God has extended to us through Jesus we are becoming like one of the nine. Any time we have a prayer answered and then write it off as a coincidence. Any time we chock our good fortune up to luck, or even worse, self-reliance we are becoming like one of the nine lepers.

It is crucial to our spiritual well-being that we keep the truth of Jesus' affect on our lives at the forefront of our thinking. Let us not neglect to offer praise and thanksgiving. Let us not take him for granted. Let us not be like the nine.

1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

The following is a copy of the proclamation issued by President George Washington concerning Thanksgiving. [New York, 3 October 1789]

By the President of the United States of America. a Proclamation.

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 especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be--That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in thecourse and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

and also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

For more information you can check out this site.

A Reasonable Thanks

If I were to begin to try to calculate or quantify the many things I have to be thankful for I would still be sitting here trying to write it all up when my mom pulled the smoked turkey out of the oven in a few hours. Most of us with the ability to read this live blessed lives which we so often take for granted, even if we don't mean to. The one thing we can all be thankful for is what God has done for us. I hope this beautiful passage from Psalm 118 will serve as an encouraging reminder of a reason we all have to be thankful, not only today, but every day. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalms 118:19-24 ESV)