Thanks-Living

Our calendars and our culture tell us this is the week to be thankful.

But what if you don’t feel thankful? What if, for you, it’s been a difficult year?

The solution is to count your blessings. Celebrate God’s gifts to you. To try Thanks-Living.

I know, I know--times are tough. Unemployment is up. It’s hard to sell a house or get credit. The cost of just about everything is up. The H1N1 flu has some frightened and others grieving.

Plus our military's involvement with Iraq and Afghanistan seems like it'll never end. Many families will spend the holiday worrying about loved ones in harm’s way. Some will wake up on Thanksgiving Day convinced there’s more to be worried about than for which to be thankful.

Well hold on just a minute! Even though life can look pretty grim at times, it doesn’t mean God has forgotten us.

The Pilgrims knew that. So did Abraham Lincoln.

We’re not the first Americans struggling to feel thankful during trying times. Consider the plight of the Pilgrims before the first Thanksgiving feast in America.

The winter of 1620 was devastating. The harvest was almost non-existent. The cold was numbing. Parents saw children die in their sleep. There wasn’t much to celebrate.

But then came the bountiful harvest of 1621. The Pilgrims gathered to thank God for blessing them. Things could have been better but they also could have been much worse.

Fast-forward 242 years after that first Thanksgiving. Listen to the words of a man who faced different, but no less devastating, events.

Abraham Lincoln was President of half a country involved in a bloody battle with the other half. Yet in the middle of a war, he declared there was much for which the no longer united states could be thankful.

On Oct. 3, 1863--just two weeks after more than 34,000 Americans were killed or wounded in the battle of Chickamauga--Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing a National Day of Thanksgiving. His words bear repeating.

“The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies,” he wrote. “To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added…”

Lincoln went on to observe that America was at peace with foreign nations. Farming and industry continued, as did international trade. He said, “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,” he continued, “that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States . . . 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.”

If Lincoln and the Pilgrims could thank God in the midst of their trials, shouldn’t we be able to do the same? Surely our difficulties are no worse than theirs.

The Bible tells us to “Be thankful.” It reminds us to “Sing with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, do it giving thanks to God.” That’s Thanks-Living.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!