Thanksgiving Gratitude

In the Hebrew culture, thanks is rendered after the meal, not before.  This is based on the scripture passage from Deuteronomy that says: When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.  Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;  otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them,  and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God…otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’  But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.  Think about this.  When do we usually run to the LORD in prayer?  Typically when things are not going well.  Yet The Almighty has given us a pattern to follow that emphasizes turning to Him at all times, particularly and including when things are going well; in other words, whenever our bellies are full and we are satisfied, expressing our gratitude to Him for His provision and sustenance in our daily lives.

In the presidential proclamation establishing Thanksgiving, Abraham Lincoln in 1863 stated:  The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God…  No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people. I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

Indeed, even amidst these days of Corona, corruption, riots, and adversity, there is much for which we can be thankful.  Consider, we have breath in our lungs, light at the touch of a finger, hot and cold running water at the flick of our wrists.  We are blessed.  Let us therefore embrace one another with grace, as much grace has been given unto us, and bless The Almighty from whom we receive blessings uncountable.

May your Thanksgiving be a time of introspection, gratitude, and love.