Here
we are, in another “Thanksgiving Season,” and have come to express our
gratitude to Almighty God for all his abundant blessings. But let’s be honest.
We are a troubled people, and this year we have little reason for complacency.
Here
at home we have severe problems. Poverty continues to plague a large segment of
our population. Opportunities for education, employment, and adequate housing
must be improved. We must learn to live in a brotherly way, as a united people.
Reconciliation and understanding must be sought more aggressively. Hatred,
burning, and destruction are not the answers. Only good will and building will
suffice.
And
yet, troubled as we are, consider how fortunate we are here in America,
compared to some other periods in our history.
Think
once again of the sacrifices and hardships of our Pilgrim forefathers. That
first severe winter of 1620 and 1621 in Plymouth took a terrible toll in life.
More than half the number of Pilgrims had died, and the graves were not even
marked, lest the Indians should discover how depleted were the ranks of the
colonists. When the “Mayflower” returned to England in the spring of 1621,
though they had the opportunity, not
one of the Pilgrims returned!
Did
these brave, godly people bemoan their fate? Did they forget to thank God?
Indeed not. The autumn harvest came in, meager as it was, and on December 13,
1621 a “Day of Thanksgiving” was proclaimed, with friendly Indians as guests.
In
the darkest days of the War of the American Revolution, the colonists did not
neglect to thank God for the hope of their freedom, and their faith and prayers
were answered.
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