Thankless to Thankful

     Tradition tells us it’s the week to be thankful.  But how many will actually thank God?

     If you listen to the average American, they can be more thankless than thankful. Complaints, gripes and grumbling seem to be the order of the day.  

     Times are tough.  Many are still unemployed.  Gasoline prices are sky-high.  It’s hard to sell a house or get a mortgage refinanced. The cost of everything is going up.  Children are ungrateful and won’t listen to their elders. And the NBA strike is delaying the start of the basketball season. 

     Plus there’s a seemingly endless war going on.  Many families will spend the holiday worrying about their loved ones who are in harm’s way.  Some Americans will wake up on Thanksgiving Day feeling like there’s more to be worried about to be thankful for.

     Life can look pretty grim at times.  But it doesn’t mean God has given up on us.

     The Pilgrims knew that.  So did Abraham Lincoln.  Do you?

     “Now hold on just a minute,” you may say.  “Why should I thank God if I’m depressed?

     If that’s true, you’re not the first American to feel less than thankful in trying times.  Consider the story of the first Thanksgiving 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.

     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.

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

     Abraham Lincoln was the president of half a country involved in a bloody battle with the other half.  Yet in the middle of the Civil War, he declared there was much that the no-longer-United-States could be thankful for.

     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.

     “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 were able to thank God in the midst of the trials they faced, 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.”

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