Gratefulness Day

For many years Thanksgiving Day, truly the American holiday, was celebrated in this blessed country with an attitude of gratefulness. In my lifetime, I have seen Thanksgiving disappear amid the pagan decorations of Halloween and the heathen decorations of Christmas. The stores, the merchants, pay little attention to Thanksgiving, too involved with trying to make their profit for the year during the spending and spreeing of the Christmas holiday season which isn't even called Christmas anymore.

Any emphasis placed on Thanksgiving, which most young people simply call “Turkey Day”, involves gluttony. I get so tired of hearing people talk incessantly about gorging themselves on this one day of the year. So intent with stuffing themselves, watching a lackluster parade in New York City, and then some millionaires running up and down the athletic field in a game called football. The gratitude to God for abundance is unknown in the minds of those who look forward to government checks rather than to the gifts of God. Our forefathers knew how to be thankful for the care and abundance of divine providence. It is rare to find anyone who has any historical knowledge of the life of those who founded the country.

The Pilgrims, persecuted in England for their religious separation, finally escaped to Holland. It was from Holland that they made their way to the new world, seeking religious freedom and opportunity. I have documents of my own family who landed in the early years. They tell how many died on ship and how many died after they finally reached land. They sought opportunity. Can we even imagine what life was like for the children of these early settlers? I have the survey map of my first relatives in Morristown, NJ, dated 1766. I have, here in the room where I am dictating this, the iron fireplace cooking pot which hung in the fireplace in which they cooked all their meals. It was not until I was in the military service that I realized some people would eat a large piece of meat. My family, even until my birth, cooked all meals in a large container, meat and vegetables cooked together in one large dish, which now you call a casserole or potpie.

Of course, the younger members of my family are caught up in the same type satanic, ghoulish, gluttony with which the rest of the world is entangled. They know nothing about fasting and praying, and I'm sorry to say, most of them know nothing about the redemption and salvation of our blessed Lord. Like hogs at the trough, most young people, and the X-generation, are just rabid eaters, absorbing every pleasant life activity coming their way. Little thought is given for the gratefulness for a comfortable home, comfortable vehicles, plentiful pantries and closets, opportunities in the work force and the chance for responsibility in the rearing of children and increasing all possibilities in life. Worship is something for the fanatics, with the increase in education we play along to get along with God as with everyone else. This is my family and your family on a modern Thanksgiving day. Eating and treating, laughing and clapping, compassionless, ruthless, thankless.

Food is the last thing most Americans, and particularly members of my family, should think about. 60% of all Americans are overweight or obese. Diabetes affects about 50% of the population. Next to toxic food, the most toxic liquid you can put in your body is soft drinks especially those with aspartame. 80% of your body is water, just as 80% of the Earth is water. The water molecule is the most important nutrient of human consumption. If it were not for Medicare paying the expense, most elderly would not have the replacement joints from carrying around excess weight. The substance in plastic, which mimics estrogen, leaches out of all plastic bottles and capsule containers leading to the effeminization of most males. Just a few years ago, it was unusual to hear the words “gay” or “homosexual” anywhere. The idea of gay marriage, gay preachers, gay bishops, was as remote as a UFO landing on the lawn of the White House. Do you ever wonder why there is so much autism, ADHD, etc., in our vocabulary? From birth until the age of two, the baby gets 25 vaccinations at the very time that the baby is trying to develop an immune system. Vaccinations before the age of two are insignificant just as sight requirements before the age of five, when a child's eyes are fully developed, are a waste. With all our leaning, in most areas, we have become less enlightened, to the uninitiated, everything is obscure.

The Giver of every good and perfect gift awaits your gratefulness. You can trust in God for everything you need, can He trust in you? This is all He asks to those who are called, elected, conformed, justified and glorified (Romans 8:28-30). The greatest truth known to man is the direct relationship between you and God. A relationship of trust, provided by our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, this is gratefulness and joy beyond compare.

On many world travels, I ate Thanksgiving in several places. At Khartoum, in the Sudan, the hotel tried to make me a typical American with a typical American Thanksgiving dinner. It looked like a cooked pigeon on a bed of rice. The server said, “We know you Americans eat a bird one a day year to celebrate flight!”.

“Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.” (Psalm 97:12)