Happy Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4 (ESV)

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

    and his courts with praise!

    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

All across our nation, Thanksgiving is a day that we set aside in order to do one thing.

Be thankful.

And usually what goes along with it, is lots of food, family and friends, laughter and fun, times of giving to others in need, maybe some football, or traditions that you’ve recognized through long years.

And sometimes too, there is also loneliness. And struggle. Or deep loss. Feelings of hurt and painful circumstances that you’re still trying to hurdle over.

Whatever you’re facing this Thanksgiving Day, in the midst of all of it, may we remember again that God gives us the opportunity each and every day, to give worship and thanks to Him. Every morning He gives us breath, is His invitation to come joyfully into His Presence. He reminds us that He alone is God and we belong to Him. He assures us that His plans in our lives are for good, that his love covers us securely, and His faithfulness extends from generation to generation.

No matter what, He’s given us so many reasons to choose thankfulness and joy this day. Let’s do what the Psalmist of this great chapter says:

- Shout for joy.

- Worship the Lord with gladness.

- Come before Him with joyful songs.

- Know that He is God.

- Enter His gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

- Give thanks to Him and praise His name.

- Recognize His goodness, love, and faithfulness, through all the generations of our family.

Dear Lord, thank You for Your goodness and for Your blessings over our lives. Forgive us for when we don't thank you enough, for who You are, for all that You do, for all that You've given. Thank You that You are always with us and will never leave us, even through loss and the most difficult of times. Thank You for Your incredible sacrifice so that we might have freedom and life. Renew our spirits, fill us with Your peace and joy, this Thanksgiving Day and every day. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Thanksgiving the gift of friendship and food

1 Chronicles 16:34 (ESV)

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

    for his steadfast love endures forever!

When Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving as a national holiday, he asked that we remember to pray for “all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, and sufferers.”

Jesus called us to do this as well. As Christians, it’s imperative to remember those who suffer; those who often go without; and those who have lost their family.

Lincoln also asked that we pray for “the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and restore it.”

His proclamation ended with four words. Peace, harmony, tranquility, and union — what the Wampanoags provided when they met 102 pilgrims: the gift of friendship and food. 

This season remember it was compassion that led to thanksgiving.

Why not advocate Thanksgiving this holiday season? Show compassion to the hungry.

Dear Lord, Thanks for the many things You have given each of us. Help our day of celebration not end today but go on throughout the year. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Tangible way to serve the Lord

Hebrews 13:15-16 (ESV)

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

The call of the Christian is to care for those in need--a tangible way to serve the Lord.

We are blessed when we feed the hungry and provide water to those who are thirsty; when we welcome strangers and refugees; and when we clothe the naked, take care of the sick, and visit those in prison. Because as we serve those people, we encounter Jesus in them.

It is a blessing and honor that we have the privilege of being God's hands and feet, and ambassadors of Christ in this world. And as we serve, visit, feed, and clothe those in need, we experience “the reality of saving faith exhibited in serving love.” (Excerpt from The Radical Disciple by John Stott.)

Not only should we continually pray for people who are suffering, but we should show practical support and care as well.

Tearfund, an international humanitarian and development agency, works tirelessly around the world to help communities realize their own potential and lift themselves out of poverty, escaping the most dire of circumstances, and giving people around the globe a reason to practice Thanksgiving everyday.

This Thanksgiving, why not practice gratitude by extending your compassion to someone who needs.

Dear Lord, open our eyes so that we can see those around us that we can bless with a meal. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Tragedies and Thanksgiving

Psalm 28:6-8 (ESV)

6 Blessed be the Lord!

    For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.

7 The Lord is my strength and my shield;

    in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

    and with my song I give thanks to him. 

8 The Lord is the strength of his people;

    he is the saving refuge of his anointed.

The Civil War was at its height when President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. On October 3, 1863, amidst 50,000 fallen soldiers, destroyed battlegrounds, and an entire population at odds with each other.

Recently, the United States has endured several tragedies: hurricanes, large-scale fires, mass shootings, a heroin epidemic, terrorism.

Perhaps this year you are struggling to find something to be thankful for. Or maybe this season has always been difficult for you.

A brutal war had torn America apart when Thanksgiving was declared, just after the battle of Gettysburg had just been won. A battle that changed the course of American history, paving the way for freedom and democracy.

Has God ever called you to give thanks during a season of conflict and turmoil?

Dear Lord,  help us to practice gratitude in such seasons of our life no matter how bad things look. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving 2017

Psalm 107:1, 8-9 (ESV)

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

    for his steadfast love endures forever!

8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9 For he satisfies the longing soul,

    and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

As we look at Thanksgiving here are some fun facts:

Pounds of turkey consumed by the typical American: 13.8

Pounds of expected U.S. cranberry production: 735

Dollar amount (in millions) of Thanksgiving weekend movie box office earnings: 275

Percentage increase in the volume of household waste between Thanksgiving and New Years: 25

Time in minutes it takes to make Stove Top Stuffing: 30

Number of pounds the average person puts on between Thanksgiving and Christmas: 1

The value (in billions) of the turkeys shipped: 3.6

Number of cities in U.S. named “Turkey”: 3

Number of years the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade was suspended during WWII: 2

Cubic feet of helium needed to inflate the Jimmy Neutron balloon in Macy’s parade: 12,300

Number of days the first Thanksgiving celebration lasted: 3

The First National Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas, it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; Whereas, both the houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me

"to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness!"

Now therefore, I do recommend next, to be devoted by the people of the states to the service of that great and glorious being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be, that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country.

Dear Lord, we are thankful for all You do for us. We are thankful for all that You have provided for us. Help us to not only be thankful on this one day but throughout the year also. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving 2016

Psalm 95:1-3 (ESV)

1 Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;

    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

3 For the Lord is a great God,

    and a great King above all gods.

On the fourth Thursday of November, Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, a national holiday honoring the early settlers and their harvest feast known as the first Thanksgiving.

Long before settlers came to the East Coast of the United States, the area was inhabited by many Native American tribes. The area surrounding the site of the first Thanksgiving, now known as southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island had been the home of the Wampanoag people for over 12,000 years, and had been visited by other European settlers before the arrival of the Mayflower. The native people knew the land well and had fished, hunted, and harvested for thousands of generations.

The people who comprised the Plymouth Colony were a group of English Protestants who wanted to break away from the Church of England. These ‘separatists’ initially moved to Holland and after 12 years of financial problems, they received funding from English merchants to sail across the Atlantic to settle in a ‘New World.' A ship carrying 101 men, women, and children spent 66 days traveling the Atlantic Ocean, intending to land where New York City is now located. Due to the windy conditions, the group had to cut their trip short and settle at what is now called Cape Cod.

As the Puritans prepared for winter, they gathered anything they could find, including Wampanoag supplies.

One day, Samoset, a leader of the Abenaki, and Tisquantum (better known as Squanto) visited the settlers. Squanto was a Wampanoag who had experience with other settlers and knew English. Squanto helped the settlers grow corn and use fish to fertilize their fields. After several meetings, a formal agreement was made between the settlers and the native people and they joined together to protect each other from other tribes in March of 1621.

One day that fall, four settlers were sent to hunt for food for a harvest celebration. The Wampanoag heard gunshots and alerted their leader, Massasoit, who thought the English might be preparing for war. Massasoit visited the English settlement with 90 of his men to see if the war rumor was true.

 Soon after their visit, the Native Americans realized that the English were only hunting for the harvest celebration. Massasoit sent some of his own men to hunt deer for the feast and for three days, the English and native men, women, and children ate together. The meal consisted of deer, corn, shellfish, and roasted meat, far from today's traditional Thanksgiving feast.

Although prayers and thanks were probably offered at the 1621 harvest gathering, the first recorded religious Thanksgiving Day in Plymouth happened two years later in 1623. On this occasion, the colonists gave thanks to God for rain after a two-month drought.

Dear Lord, on Thanksgiving Day we bow our hearts to You. We give You thanks for all You’ve done especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

The habit of thanking God

Luke 17:15-16  (ESV)

15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; 16 and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

In ancient times, lepers were social outcasts because of their highly contagious disease. In this passage, ten lepers came to Jesus begging for mercy and He graciously healed them.

Can you imagine? These lepers had an awful disease. Their bodies were slowly deteriorating -- and worse, they were shunned from their friends and family and forced to live in a community of only those who were too withering away. Suddenly merciful Jesus comes along and "poof!" the sickness leaves them! How life changing! These people must have been overjoyed! Now they could go back to their families, their homes, their communities and live normal lives!

But as I reread this story today something struck me. Only one of them returned to thank the Lord! But how often do we do the same? We get so focused on our blessing and forget about the One who gave it!

Just as the Samaritan returned to Jesus to thank and worship Him who had redeemed his life, we too must thank God -- for every good and perfect gift comes from Him and He deserves all the honor and the glory! And as a matter of fact, one of the cornerstones of effective prayer is entering His gates with thanksgiving and praise. Let's start thanking God for all His goodness toward us!

It's easy to get caught up in the blessing -- God has given us so much! But let’s be sure that we make daily habit of thanking God first!

Dear Lord help us to be thankful for the many things that You have done and are currently doing for us. Help us not forget to thank You. In the Name of Jesus, Amen. 

5 kernels of corn and being thankful

Psalm 92:1 (ESV)

It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

    to sing praises to your name, O Most High;

As Psalm 92 tells us, "It is good to give thanks to the LORD . . . to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night." With a little effort, you can make Thanksgiving a cherished family time devoted to thanking God for what He has done in your lives.

One tradition we did for years is to have five kernels of corn on each of our plates —a reminder of the Pilgrims' daily ration during one of their first difficult winters. Before we ate, we passed a basket around the table, and each person places one kernel of corn at a time into the basket and tells one thing he or she is thankful for.

Here are some of the things each of us can be thankful for:

•"I'm thankful for being able to have a family."

•"I'm thankful my brother/sister, son or daughter got to come home from college for Thanksgiving."

•"I'm thankful for God in my life."

•"I'm thankful for my ministry at my high school."

•"I'm thankful for my sister/brother teaching me about relationships."

•"I'm thankful for our food!"

•"I'm thankful for a great brother/sister."

Thanking God is a big step of our faith. It provides the true spirit of Thanksgiving—a heart of gratitude that gives thanks in all things.

Dear Lord, help each of us have thankful hearts. Help us not forget to say thank you to You each day for the things that You have done for each of us. In the Name  of Jesus, Amen. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Ephesians 5:20 (NIV)

Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One Thanksgiving season a family was seated around their table, looking at the annual holiday bird. From the oldest to the youngest, they were to express their praise. When they came to the 5-year-old in the family, he began by looking at the turkey and expressing his thanks to the turkey, saying although he had not tasted it he knew it would be good. After that rather novel expression of thanksgiving, he began with a more predictable line of credits, thanking his mother for cooking the turkey and his father for buying the turkey. But then he went beyond that. He joined together a whole hidden multitude of benefactors, linking them with cause and effect.

He said, "I thank the checker at the grocery store who checked out the turkey. I thank the grocery store people who put it on the shelf. I thank the farmer who made it fat. I thank the man who made the feed. I thank those who brought the turkey to the store."

Using his Columbo-like little mind, he traced the turkey all the way from its origin to his plate. And then at the end he solemnly said "Did I leave anybody out?"

His 2-year-older brother, embarrassed by all those proceedings, said, "God."

Solemnly and without being flustered at all, the 5-year-old said, "I was about to get to Him."

How often is God the last one we thank? Will you get to Him this Thanksgiving?

Dear Lord, thank You for all that You have given to us. Help us to remember to give You thanks and not leave You out. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Give Thanks

 Psalm 100:4-5 (NIV)

4 Enter his gates with  thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Take a minute to give THANKS for what God has given to you.

·       for time together as a family

·       for our continuing love relationship with You through Jesus

·       for our love relationship with each other

·       for life, health, bright minds, and physical safety

·       for food, clothing, a comfortable house, a clean bed

·       for enjoying being together with laughter

·       for the uniqueness of each one

·       for the rock of strength that prayer is for us

·       for faithful friends who encourage us by praying for our family

·       for seeing God's hand of grace at work in our lives as we experience more of Him

·       for God's plan for our lives and His enabling to keep us in His will each day

·       for weaknesses through which God shows Himself strong in us

·       for wisdom and guidance in daily circumstances

·       for strength for daily demands of job and family

·       for hope, peace, victory, satisfaction, and fulfillment

·       for financial blessings

·       for spiritual strength in spiritual battles

·       for Your patience in the testing, struggles, and refining that we grow through

·       for Jesus' sufficiency for today's grace

·       for forgiveness received and forgiveness extended

·       for hearts of obedience

·       for more than we could ever deserve!

Dear Lord, thank You for these things and many more. In Jesus’ Name, Amen. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:3-5  (NIV)

3 Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

It is believed that the first Thanksgiving celebration took place in 1621.  This feast was attended by both Pilgrims and Indians who joined together to thank God for their bountiful harvest of the previous year.  This celebration was continued by the first American colonies, and later by the United States, as a time of thanksgiving for the blessings that God had bestowed upon the American people.

The official Thanksgiving Day holiday was started in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln, at the end of the Civil War, asked Americans to set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving to God for the blessings He had shown to America (one of which was an end to the Civil War).

In 1939 FDR moved the holiday to the prior week.  He did this to help businesses by giving them a longer holiday shopping period.  Finally, in 1941 the fourth Thursday in November was declared by Congress to be the official holiday of Thanksgiving.

Clearly, the Thanksgiving holiday began, and was continued, as a time to give thanks to God for the blessings He has bestowed upon our country and its individual citizens.  Most presidents in their Thanksgiving Day proclamation clearly declare that the day is set aside to give thanks to God for the blessings He has given to us. One example of this is George Bush’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation of 1990…

“Now, therefore, I, George Bush, president of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the American people to observe Thursday, November 22, 1990, as a National Day of Thanksgiving and to gather together in homes and places of worship on that day of thanks to affirm by their prayers and their gratitude the many blessings God has bestowed upon us.”

There can be no doubt, historically, Thanksgiving is a day set aside for giving thanks to God Almighty for His many blessings He has given to us.  This Thanksgiving Day let us be sure to verbally explain to those around us the wonderful history behind the celebration.  Also, let us be sure that we all have a true thankful attitude towards our God for all His manifold gifts of grace He has given to each of us.

We as Christians should treat every day as Thanksgiving.

“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. “ (1Th 5:18)

Dear Lord, we thank You for all You do for us. Help us not just be thankful on Thanksgiving day. Give us a thankful heart. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Thanksgiving Day

Psalm 100:4-5 (New International Version)

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

It is commonly believed that the first Thanksgiving celebration took place in 1621.  This feast was attended by both Pilgrims and Indians who joined together to thank God for their bountiful harvest of the previous year.  This celebration was continued by the first American colonies, and later by the United States, as a time of thanksgiving for the blessings that God had bestowed upon the American people.

The official Thanksgiving Day holiday was started in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln, at the end of the Civil War, asked Americans to set aside the last Thursday of November as a day of thanksgiving to God for the blessings He had shown to America (one of which was an end to the Civil War).

In 1939 FDR moved the holiday to the prior week.  He did this to help businesses by giving them a longer holiday shopping period.  Finally, in 1941 the fourth Thursday in November was declared by Congress to be the official holiday of Thanksgiving.

Clearly, the Thanksgiving holiday began, and was continued, as a time to give thanks to God for the blessings He has bestowed upon our country and its individual citizens.  Most presidents in their Thanksgiving Day proclamation clearly declare that the day is set aside to give thanks to God for the blessings He has given to us. One example of this is George Bush’s Thanksgiving Day proclamation of 1990…

“Now, therefore, I, George Bush, president of the United States of America, do hereby call upon the American people to observe Thursday, November 22, 1990, as a National Day of Thanksgiving and to gather together in homes and places of worship on that day of thanks to affirm by their prayers and their gratitude the many blessings God has bestowed upon us.”

There can be no doubt, historically, Thanksgiving is a day set aside for giving thanks to God Almighty for His many blessings He has given to us.  On this Thanksgiving Day let us be sure that we have a true thankful attitude towards our God for all His manifold gifts of grace He has given to each of us.

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you, May we never forget to give thanks to God for all that He has given each one of us.

Dear Lord We give You thanks for all You've done especially for the gift of Jesus, Your Son. We thank You for the beauty of nature, our health, our friends and family. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, Give Thanks.

Philippians 4:19 (New International Version)

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.

As we prepare for Thanksgiving day let's take a look at the beginnings of Thanksgiving.

Almost 400 years ago in the country of England (on the other side of the ocean) a group of people called Pilgrims wanted to come to America so that they could worship God. They packed up their belongings, left their houses, and boarded a ship called the Mayflower. There were 102 people on that ship, and most of them were children.

It was very crowded and the journey was difficult. Many grown-ups and children got seasick. Others got sick because they didn't have fruits and vegetables to eat and they didn't have fresh water to drink or to wash in. But God didn't give up on them. He kept watching over them and blessing them. There was even a baby born on the Mayflower! Because he was born on the ocean, his parents named him Oceanus!

The voyage took a long, long time. When the Pilgrims finally got to land, their troubles were not over. By then, it was winter. There weren't any houses to live in. There wasn't much food to eat. In fact, on some days, each person got only a few kernels of corn! Because it was so cold and they didn't have much food, many more people got sick. Many even died.

How do you think they felt? I suppose some of them even wanted to quit and go back to England. They might have done that, but they knew God had led them to their new land, and they trusted him.

When spring came, God sent Native Americans to help the Pilgrims. The Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn and fertilize it by putting fish in the ground with the corn seeds. The Pilgrims worked hard that summer growing food and building houses. When fall came, God gave them a great harvest. The Pilgrims knew God had helped them, and they were very thankful to him.

To celebrate God’s goodness to them, they had a feast—a thanksgiving feast. They invited their new friends, the Native Americans, to eat with them. It was the first Thanksgiving, and the celebration lasted for three days!

Just like the Pilgrims, we have struggles too. Sometimes people we love get sick. Sometimes we feel sad or lonely. Sometimes we are afraid. No matter what struggles and troubles we face, God keeps on loving us. He always gives us exactly what we need. 

God loves you! He won’t always take your struggles away, but he promises that he will stay with you. He will always help you, no matter what. God loves you so much that he sent his own Son, Jesus, to die for you to take your sins away. That is the best gift ever! And because God loved us enough to give us his very best Gift—Jesus—we know he will give us everything else we need, too.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the many gifts you give to us, thank you for the many ways you help us each day. We thank for the day we have set aside to be thankful. We pray for safety for all those who will be traveling to spend tomorrow with their loved ones. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:1-5 (New International Version)

1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.

2 Worship the LORD with gladness;

   come before him with joyful songs.

3 Know that the LORD is God.

   It is he who made us, and we are his[a];

   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving

   and his courts with praise;

   give thanks to him and praise his name.

5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;

   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

To All Ye Pilgrims: Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor, and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings. 

William Bradford, the governor of Plymouth Colony.

As we celebrate this Thanksgiving day let’s remember the words of the governor of Plymouth colony. Let us “render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.

Dear Lord we want to take today to thank You for all the many blessings that You have allowed for each of us to receive. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving

Besides symbolizing a time when many of us gather to feast on turkey, cranberry sauce, and apple pie-what does the word truly mean? America's revered holiday was founded by a group of struggling Pilgrims during the fall of 1621. Peter Marshall and David Manuel's account, The Light and the Glory, tells how the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock endured extreme hardship to pioneer a new land. Three long months at sea aboard The Mayflower and a brutal winter left them ragged, malnourished, and susceptible to disease. During the first four months of that year, nearly half of the émigrés had succumbed to illness and died under the harsh strain of their barren lifestyle.



The Pilgrims' daily existence was a life-or-death battle to overcome constant hunger, sickness, and exposure to the elements. Crudely assembled houses made of mud daub were their only shelter from the icy New England weather. Because they were not yet knowledgeable about their new environment's agriculture, planting gardens in the hostile conditions proved virtually fruitless. Every meal was portioned out meticulously. The death toll, a constant reminder of their fragility, rose steadily. At one point only 5 men were well enough to care for the sick.


Despite their tribulations, the Pilgrims thanked The Lord every day, petitioning Him for rehabilitation. One morning, during an ordinary Sunday worship service, The Lord sent tangible evidence that He had heard their prayers. Their church service was interrupted by an unexpected guest, an Algonquin Indian chief who assessed their hopeless situation and returned with a helper named Squanto. The Pilgrims, who have warred with Indians before and lived with a continuous fear of being attacked by them, were astonished by their new friends' eagerness to provide much needed assistance.


Squanto, a Pateuxet Indian who spoke perfect English, taught the Pilgrims how to hunt game, trap beavers, and plant Indian corn, a staple that would eventually save their lives.


When the harvest yielded more than the Pilgrims could eat, Governor William Bradford, their elected leader, declared a day of public thanksgiving. He invited the chief of a friendly neighboring Indian tribe to join in their tribute of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were excited to celebrate with their honored guest but were completely shocked when he arrived with 90 other Indians.


Although God had provided abundantly, their food supply would not accommodate a group of this size, and they had no idea how to feed their visitors. Despite their quandary, all worries were soon dismissed. To their amazement and ever-increasing thankfulness, the Indians had bought with them 5 dressed deer and a 12 fat wild turkeys. Over time they taught the women how to make pudding, maple syrup, and an Indian delicacy-roasted pop corn.


But the Pilgrims' trials were far from finished; their plentiful autumn was followed by a particularly treacherous winter. Unfortunately, the weather proved to be the least of their ailments. In November a ship called The Fortune dropped anchor in their harbor. Aboard the ship were 35 more colonists who had brought with them no provisions-no food, no extra clothing, no equipment for survival. Additionally, the oppression of the physical environment had become almost unbearable after a 12 week drought dried up their crops and withered their spirits. The newcomers arrival had drained already inadequate food rations and there was no obvious resource for sustenance. At their lowest point, the Pilgrims were reduced to a daily ration of 5 kernels of corn apiece. In utter desperation they fell to their knees and prayed for 8 hours without ceasing.


Again God heard their supplications: 14 days of rain followed. A second Day of Thanksgiving was declared. The neighboring Indian chief was again their honored guest; He brought with him 120 braves. The pilgrims feasted on game and turkey as they had during the previous celebration, only this time one dish was different. The first course, served on an empty plate in front of each person, consisted of 5 kernels of corn, a gentle reminder of God's faithful provision for them.


The Pilgrims humble response to their affliction is evidenced by their many writing which express deeply thankful hearts. We can learn countless lessons about sincere thankfulness from their example. By teaching our children to have grateful hearts, we can prepare them to respond gracefully to life's trials. GIVE THANKS!!!






16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.


-1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (New International Version)






Dear Lord we want to take today to say THANKS for all the many blessing you have given to each of us. In Jesus’ name, amen.