A Thanksgiving Rich in Godly Tradition

Our American Thanksgiving holiday is rich in godly tradition as families near and far gather. Of course, most people have heard of the original Thanksgiving, where the pilgrims gave thanks to God and the Indians for helping them survive their first winter in the New World. Many early presidents of the United States had celebrations commemorating this original event. However, it was in the midst of the U.S. Civil War in 1863 that President Lincoln issued a proclamation making Thanksgiving an official holiday.The original proclamation was actually written by William H. Seward, the United States Secretary of State. President Lincoln expressed similar sentiments when he called for a national day of prayer that same year. Here’s an excerpt from that proclamation:

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand, which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.

These are profound words that are even more true today than when they were first written.Use this holiday season to humble yourself and remember the God who’s blessed you in so many ways.Scripture Texts:

• "It’s good to give thanks!" (2 Corinthians 9:8-11).
• "Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God" (2 Corinthians 9:11).