Well…. It’s that time of the year; food, parties, shopping, turkey time, family gatherings and reunions.  It began as a time of celebration of the harvest which started in 1621 with the pilgrims and Indians.   However, when Thanksgiving became a national holiday, it was written into law on October 11, 1782 right after the Revolutionary War as a religious holiday to give thanks unto God for all his goodness and mercy. You can find an actual copy of this proclamation on www.history.com.  The beginning of this proclamation says and I quote, “IT being the indispensable duty of all Nations, not only to offer up their supplications to ALMIGHTY GOD, the giver of all good, for his gracious assistance in a time of distress, but also in a solemn and public manner to give him praise for his goodness in general, and especially for great and signal interpositions of his providence in their behalf”.  The end of the proclamation says this and I quote “…Do hereby recommend to the inhabitants of these States in general, to observe, and request the several States to interpose their authority in appointing and commanding the observation of THURSDAY the twenty-eight day of NOVEMBER next, as a day of solemn THANKSGIVING to GOD for all his mercies: and they do further recommend to all ranks, to testify to their gratitude to GOD for his goodness, by a cheerful obedience of his laws, and by promoting, each in his station, and by his influence, the practice of true and undefiled religion, which is the great foundation of public prosperity and national happiness”. 


When I read this today, tears welled in my eyes to think that we have conformed ourselves to the worldliness of thanksgiving and have forgotten the proclamation given to us by Congress so many years ago. I begin thinking about my families personal celebrations of Thanksgiving.  I can’t think of one time that our focus was on thanking God for his goodness and mercies to us but was just a time of getting together with our families and eating and eating and eating, and playing games sometimes.  But most of the time was spent just spending time with our families.  All of this is great and I do not want to portray that I have ever regretted times I have spent with family and friends.  But doesn’t it seem to you and it does to me that we have left the most important thing out of Thanksgiving and that’s giving thanks to God for all of His blessings? 


I challenge you today to make a concerted effort to put God back into our Thanksgiving as you spend time with your family and friends.  Start a tradition with your family and friends. Here are some ideas I have created and some that I have found online:

1)     Have each person generate a "What I'm Thankful For List." You could go around the table before the 
        big dinner is served so that each person can say aloud what he/she is thankful for or you could have each 
        person write their list down on sheets of paper so that they can be hole-punched and stored in a 3 ring 
        binder. Throw in some photos of everyone at the Thanksgiving celebration and the binder can serve as your 
        Thanksgiving family memories book.
2)     One year volunteer at a local shelter to serve food or at Meals On Wheels to deliver the Thanksgiving Day 
        meal to those less fortunate Americans.   What a lesson of gratitude this would be for everyone including 
        your children.
3)     Have each person write a Thank You Card to God to read to everyone before you gather at the table and 
        eat.  Then as a group, offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the freedoms we have in America, the 
        blessings God has given us a family and the opportunity we have to worship Him freely.  Pray for our troops 
        who are once again fighting for our freedom; this time through terrorism and pray for their safety while 
        overseas. 
4)     After dinner is over, create a craft for the children to remember that this is the day to be grateful for all that 
        God has done for us.
5)     With the economical turmoil that our country is in, now is the perfect time to invite over a family that may not 
        have much or a place to go.  There may be someone laid off that doesn’t have the money for a good 
        thanksgiving or have the money to travel to their extended families this year.  What a testimony that would 
        be to your children!

There are many more ideas that you can create to begin to teach ourselves and our children to be grateful for what God has done for us.  Remember gratitude is an attitude.  It is the art of being grateful.  Please join me to make a change this Thanksgiving by renewing our minds with the attitude of gratefulness.