Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving

When I was a child I always looked forward to Thanksgiving. The turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and especially the black olives. Do you know how much fun it was to put those black olives on the tips of every finger and eat then off? And all the relatives showing up to visit, some you may not have seen all year. It truly was a wonderful and blessed day.
There was nothing open for business on that day, except for maybe the little corner market for a couple hours in the morning. I remember those Thanksgiving days as being peaceful, loving and a lot of fun. Those days are long gone and the true meaning of Thanksgiving has almost died along with them. Maybe not for everybody but for most. We have been caught up in a fast moving world and we are afraid that if we slow down we will be left behind.
I remember setting the table, sometimes for more or less people that were expected to come. But the thing that I remember the most was that it didn’t matter how many people were to show up for dinner, the head of the table was always set with a beautiful little wine glass, with the top portion of the glass red. This was always set into place by my father for the unseen guest that was to be present at our table. Grace was said before you could hear any utensil bang on a dish and of course that Grace was to give thanks to our unseen guest (God) for his Grace that was bestowed upon us throughout the year. Thanksgiving Days were absolutely beautiful and wonderful.
Times sure have changed in the past 45 years or so. When President Bush gave his official Thanksgiving address in 2007 at the Berkeley Plantation he said “Thanksgiving traditions have evolved”. Evolution as we call and know it is not necessarily for the better. I guess that if you do not believe in God and that his son Jesus was sacrificed for your sins then racing across the sand dunes, plowing through the mud bogs or flying over the waves with a cold turkey sandwich in one hand and a beer or soft drink in the other is for you, and I’m sorry.
In the Bible, from “Leviticus” to “Revelation”, we are to give thanks to our Lord and creator. A couple of my favorites are Psalms 69:30 “I will praise the name of God with song and magnify Him with thanksgiving.” Psalms 100:4 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.” And Colossians 2:6,7,8 6 “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: 7 Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Have we forgotten what we have been taught as it states in Colossians 2:7 or have we ever been taught?
Evolution or just plain lazy excuses?

“For as much as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart Thursday, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confessions of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield is Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.

And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.”

What you have just read was The First National Proclamation of Thanksgiving, given 231 years ago as of this year, 2008, by the Continental Congress, 1777.

There has been Thanksgiving Proclamations sense that continues to acknowledge Almighty GOD. Two names out of the hat would be George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, giving glorious proclamations. And how many more wonderful devotions and inspirationals given by people we will never meet here on earth? Although we are to, and should give Thanks every day to our creator, this one day in November has been set aside for us as one nation for giving Thanks to Almighty GOD as ONE. But it is fast becoming something that it wasn’t meant to be. Yes, it is your choice. Given to you by your ancestors, called Freedom. Bought and paid for by the blood of those ancestors. The same ones that believed and trusted in GOD for all his power, mercy and grace.
I pray that we all have a peaceful, joyful and wonderful, Thanksgiving LIFE.

MGBYAKY
B.C.B. Disciple of God