Thanksgiving became a federal holiday in 1863 in the
United States. President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of
“Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens”,
to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November each year.
We
all know the story of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans who celebrated
their first harvest in the New World in 1961. Actually, the colonists
celebrated “thanksgiving” often with days of prayer thanking God for blessings
of military victory, end of droughts, safety, and family. The feast lasted for
three days. It was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.
Today,
many of us are in such a hurry for CHRISTmas that we bypass Thanksgiving. What
a shame to overlook a time of prayer and thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father
who has sustained us with such blessings of life.
Remember
the story of the ten lepers in the scriptures? Jesus healed ten men of
leprosy-a disease that ate away their flesh, caused great pain, separated them
from their loved ones and all the necessities of life. Only one man came back
to thank the Lord for his healing. Let’s not be one of the nine who forgot
where their healing and blessings came from. Let us take time to kneel before
our Father and thank him this Thanksgiving.
Happy
Thanksgiving,
Latresa
