Thursday, November 23, 2017

A Three-Minute Start

A number of nations celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

The dates range from early October to late November.

Days of Thanksgiving in America date to its colonial period.

They were proclaimed by church leaders, governors and even the Continental Congress.

In each case a Day of Thanksgiving was set aside to give thanks to God.

It was President George Washington who proclaimed that Americans should set aside November 26, 1789 as a “day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God."

From then on. the observance of Thanksgiving varied from state to state.

On October 3, 1863, while America was still in the middle of its Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving should be observed on the final Thursday in November.

Lincoln’s proclamation concluded with the following: “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.”

Because of the Civil War, those in opposition to Lincoln refused to adopt the date he proclaimed until the 1870’s.

In the late 1930’s President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed that Thanksgiving Day be observed on the fourth Thursday in November.

In 1941, a joint resolution of Congress officially recognized the date change and it was signed into law by Roosevelt.

From its very beginnings throughout the course of its history, Thanksgiving Day is about giving thanks to God in all circumstances.

Unfortunately, with each passing year, we push God further away from the concept of Thanksgiving.

We find more and more ways to distract ourselves from its original intent.

The day after Thanksgiving has now become the biggest shopping day of the year.

Many stores are now opting to remain open on Thanksgiving Day.

I believe it is not too late to return the day to its original purpose.

I recall a story told by a Vietnam veteran of his experiences on one particular Thanksgiving Day.

He and his fellow soldiers had been consuming rations for a very long time.

When Thanksgiving Day arrived, helicopters flew in and brought he and his fellow soldiers a traditional and hot Thanksgiving meal.

But that was not what made the day special.

A satellite telephone unit the size of a bus had also been flown in and set up.

With it, he and rest of the men were each allowed to make a three-minute phone call home.

Some waited in line for over 8 hours just for the opportunity to make their three-minute call.

That three-minute call home meant everything to this man and the others.

Perhaps we can start there.

Paul reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven.

Perhaps we could start with a three-minute prayer to God thanking Him and ask Him to help us better put things in perspective.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NET) - Do not be anxious about anything. Instead, in every situation, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, tell your requests to God. And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, December 1, 2017.
I will be back here on Friday, December 8, 2017


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