Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving as a national holiday for America in 1863. That special day was set apart for the American people to gather with their neighbors, friends and families to corporately as a nation, express their thanksgiving to God for all His blessings. Our nation and her people have been truly been blessed by God despite all her flaws and uncertainties. We have in the past and still today enjoy an abundance of freedom in this country unequalled to any place else in the world. We have a freedom and liberty that many people of other nations can only dream about.
This country has offered it’s people a lifestyle that is attainable for all those who set goals and work hard to achieve them. America has provided it’s people with a greater opportunity to be successful than any other nation on earth. That is why so many come to her shores and borders. But even more than that, she has granted her people with the religious right to choose whom and how they would put their faith and trust and hope to believe. I continue to be thankful today and each day for that right and freedom more than any other, because I do not have to hide in a nearby closet to worship, or offer praise to the One that has allocated to me, this freedom.
The Pilgrims set aside a very special day to give thanks to God and to acknowledge how utterly dependent they were upon Him. They sacrificed much to begin their new life in a new and unknown land which would afford them the liberty to freely worship the true and living God. We owe much to these early settlers. America’s Judeo-Christian heritage took root when the Pilgrims and Puritans set foot upon this continent and we must always protect and defend these religious freedoms with every fiber of our being.
As I think of those blessings and all that I have, it only stands to reason that I would pause and think of those things that the Pilgrims did not have. No people were more underprivileged than that small band of migrants that journeyed to the new land on the Mayflower in search of a religious freedom to worship how they believed. There may come a time that the people of God will search again for another place that they can serve and worship the living God in freedom. But for now, I will shout it from the mountain tops and the valleys way low, “I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.” Psalm 116:17 and “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing.” Psalm 107:21-22.
God Blessed America! Happy Thanksgiving Sweet Friends!
-Bren
