“O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth for ever” – Ps. 136:1.
This has been a difficult year in America. We are divided. We are annoyed. We are terrified. We are angry. We are anything but the United States of America.
But tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Can we just stop for a minute and remember why we have this day every year? Can we put aside our differences and come together at the table?
We give thanks not because we are good but because God is good, and His mercies are new EVERY morning!
I have been studying Thanksgiving (the TRUE story) with my kids, and it definitely didn’t look anything like what we have today! I can only imagine how the Pilgrims felt the first year in America. They had come from a nation that was divided. They were annoyed with one another as they struggled to survive. They were terrified as they watched so many of their family members die from sickness and the cold winter.
Yet, they gave thanks. They came together with the Native Americans, and they sat around a table and gave thanks. They had so little. There were no crowds to push through at the grocery store, no traffic jams to maneuver, no football games to watch on television. They simply came together to give thanks.
Yes, I know that Thanksgiving didn’t become an official holiday until much later, but the Pilgrims are the ones we look to and remember on this day.
We in America have so much. My best friend housed an exchange student last summer who was amazed with the number of storage buildings we have for our “things” here in America. She was from France and marveled that we would need an extra “house” for all of our stuff!
Yet we aren’t content.
We have access to clean, running water, where many people around the world have to walk miles each day just to carry back buckets of water that may or may not be sanitary.
Yet we aren’t content.
We have information at our finger tips while many people around the world have never even seen a book or would know how to read one if they had a library in their town.
Yet we aren’t content.
We have medical knowledge, nutrition, and hygiene while many still suffer with diseases we have vaccines to cure.
Yet we aren’t content.
We have freedom of speech and religion while others are oppressed and forced into silence for their beliefs.
Yet we aren’t content.
Despite this, God continues to be merciful to us. He has promised His mercies forever! We can be thankful because God is GOOD!
America, we can do better. We can be united again! Let’s begin by gathering around the table tomorrow, sharing laughter and thanksgiving for our many blessings.
Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!
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