THANKSGIVING

Yesterday in a phone visit with my sister, Laurel, she reminded me of special "Thanksgiving memories" during our growing up years. She recalled how our mother would teach school all day on Wednesday and then head to the grocery store when school was over so she could purchase the food necessary to begin the meal preparation for the next day. She did so much--including making all the pies--getting up in the wee hours to put the turkey in the oven--and now we think, "How did she do it all?" Thanksgiving is such a treasured time and our families have purposed to keep it that way.
Lest we forget, I believe it is imperative to reflect on those who went before us and were an integral part in our history and therefore our lives. The initial giving of thanks in l621 for God's gracious provision was followed by a time of such scarcity that history reveals everyone was forced to a daily ration of only five kernels of corn.
The first national day of Thanksgiving was declared in 1777--just one year after our Declaration of Independence from Britain. Earlier in the year the colonists had suffered many defeats, but then there was the victory at Saratoga. President Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation during the Civil War is monumental. President Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of national "Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens". The date varied some through the years and finally President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill on Novemeber 26, l941 that stated the fourth Thursday of November would be our national holiday.
For me, it is so easy to get got up in "daily events and responsibilities" that I forget what I should remember. May it not be this way today--Psalms 105:1"Oh give thanks to the LORD, call upon HIs name; Make known His deeds among the peoples."