Thanksgiving, it's the big family event this time of year in the United States. Thanksgiving was established in our Puritan roots, Pilgrims fleeing religious persecution to establish Christ's Kingdom in the new world gave thanks to God for all His blessings in the midst of terrible hardship. Many pilgrims died in merciless trials and difficulties while pioneering the new land. Typically, many Americans associate Thanksgiving solely with deciding which traditional dishes will be prepared, who will prepare them and, of course, what time the turkey will be served!! This is followed by various pies, desserts, coffee and endless football games where people try to meet the challenge of staying awake (some don't try at all) with a tummy full of turkey and specialty foods.
I ask myself, was there something the Pilgrims knew that we don't? Within the grimness, sparsity and difficulty of their circumstances - they were thankful. Modern day Americans may ponder, how could this be? We don't seem to know how to be thankful much. Oh, I hear people say they are thankful for God, family and other good things, but the same people turn around in the next breath and pour out a stream of such bitter anger and negative condemnation on their fellow man, circumstances and anything else in their path that all traces of thankfulness evaporate in the face of it. I know this well - I've been the one doing it at times! However, I believe that what the Pilgrims knew is being revealed all over again at a whole new level to a new generation of the beloved - Pilgrims establishing Christ's Kingdom in a whole new way world wide. We have the opportunity to see circumstances, people and all things through the eyes of thankfulness. Why? Because we have an overcoming God!!! This is not to say that things are not heartbreaking - they are! But just as things are heartbreakingly broken, painful, ugly and evil - God is so great, joyful, loving, glorious, clean and perfect and He makes all things new - we are His!!!! Really getting the reality of this (not just in our heads, but down in our hearts) is the important secret to always having the ability to remain thankful. This world is full of harsh realities, but the beloved have a reality far greater. He is the reason for thankfulness in the very midst of hard circumstances.
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