Title:  President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting

   We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved, the many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
   Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to God that made us! It behooves us, then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

   -- April 30, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation for a National Day of Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer.

See:  Deut 8:11-14

Title:  Politically Correct Thanksgiving

   I heard about a little fourth-grader who stood up to give a report concerning the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday. Here's how he began:

   The pilgrims came here seeking
   freedom of you know what.
   When they landed, they gave
   thanks to you know who.
   Because of them, we can worship
   each Sunday, you know where.

See:  Psa 9:1-2; Psa 86:12; Col 3:15-16

Title:  More History of Thanksgiving Day

   Thanksgiving Day in the United States is an annual day of thanks for the blessings of the past year, observed on the fourth Thursday in November in each of the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. It is a historical, national, and religious holiday that began with the Pilgrims. After the survival of their first colony through the bitter winter, and the gathering of the harvest, Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth Colony issued a thanksgiving proclamation in the autumn of 1621. This first thanksgiving lasted three days, during which the Pilgrims feasted on wild turkey and venison with their Indian guests.
   Days of thanksgiving were celebrated sporadically until, on Nov. 26, 1789, President Washington issued a proclamation of a nation-wide day of thanksgiving. He made it clear that the day should be one of prayer and giving thanks to God. It was to be celebrated by all religious denominations, a circumstance that helped to promote a spirit of common heritage.
   Credit for establishing this day as a national holiday is usually given to Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies' Magazine (from 1828) in Boston. Her editorials in the magazine and letters to President Lincoln urging the formal establishment of a national holiday of thanksgiving resulted in Lincoln's proclamation in 1863, designating the last Thursday in November as the day. Succeeding presidents annually followed his example, except for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1939 proclaimed Thanksgiving Day a week earlier -- on the fourth but not the last Thursday -- to encourage holiday shopping. In 1941, Congress adopted a joint resolution setting the date on the fourth Thursday.
   A traditional Thanksgiving dinner takes place yearly at the White House and in almost every American home. Roast turkey and pumpkin pie are among the symbols of this festival. An ancient harvest symbol, the cornucopia, or "horn of plenty," has also been attached to Thanksgiving. Schools and businesses close for this day of family reunion and national, rather than individual, giving of thanks.
   In Canada a legal Thanksgiving Day is observed, usually on the second Monday in October.

   -- Sula Benet, Hunter College.

See:  Psa 100:4-5; Psa 145:10-11; Rev 7:12

Title:  First Proclamation After Plymouth

   Governor Bradford of Massachusetts made this first Thanksgiving Proclamation three years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth:
   "Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, 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 ye 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 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three and the 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

See:  Psa 100:4-5; Psa 145:10-11; Rev 7:12

Title:  Thanksgiving Day

   History of the National Holiday
   Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States commemorating the harvest of the Plymouth Colony in 1621. The event followed a winter of great hardship.
   When it was first inaugurated, only a few eastern states participated. However, through the effort of Sarah Hale a change was effected. She was fired with the determination of having the whole nation join together in setting apart a national day for giving thanks "unto Him from who all blessings flow." To this end, she resolutely engaged the press with an endless flow of letters and articles to the various newspapers and journals of her time. In addition, she pleaded long and earnestly with three Presidents: Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan during the period of 1852, when her campaign succeeded in uniting 29 states in marking the last Thursday of November as "Thanksgiving Day."
   Then came the dark days of the Civil War. Who would listen to a lone woman with her persistent plea for "just one day of peace amidst the blood and the strife"? One man did; her entreaty won the ear of a great American, and in 1863 President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day set apart for the national giving of thanks unto Almighty God. Lincoln lived to see only two such occasions, but Sarah Hale lived well on into her late 90's, content that her long-cherished hope had at last become a reality.

See:  Psa 136:1-3

Title:  The Greatest Saint

   William Law, in his Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life writes, "Would you know who is the greatest saint in the world? It is not he who prays most or fasts most; it is not he who gives most alms, or is most eminent for temperance, chastity, or justice, but it is he who is always thankful to God, who wills everything that God willeth, who received everything as an instance of God's goodness, and has a heart always ready to praise God for it."

See:  1 Thes 5:18; Eph 6:5-8

Title:  Thanks

   Rudyard Kipling at one time was so popular that his writings were getting ten shillings per word. A few college students, however didn't appreciate Kipling's writings; they facetiously sent him a letter enclosing ten shillings. It read, "Please, send us your best word." They got back a letter from Kipling, "Thanks."

See:  Eph 5:20

Title:  Feasting on a Turnip and Mud
 

In The Sacred Journey, Frederick Buechner writes:

[One] winter I sat in Army fatigues somewhere near Anniston, Alabama, eating my supper out of a mess kit. The infantry training battalion that I had been assigned to was on bivouac. There was a cold drizzle, and everything was mud. The sun had gone down.

I was still hungry when I finished and noticed that a man nearby had something left over that he was not going to eat. It was a turnip, and when I asked him if I could have it, he tossed it over to me. I missed the catch, the turnip fell to the ground, but I wanted it so badly that I picked it up and started eating it anyway, mud and all.

And then, as I ate it, time deepened and slowed down again. With a lurch of the heart that is real to me still, I saw suddenly, almost as if from beyond time altogether, that not only was the turnip good, but the mud was good too, even the drizzle and cold were good, even the Army that I had dreaded for months.

Sitting there in the Alabama winter with my mouth full of cold turnip and mud, I could see at least for a moment how if you ever took truly to heart the ultimate goodness and joy of things, even at their bleakest, the need to praise someone or something for it would be so great that you might even have to go out and speak of it to the birds of the air.

Ephesians 5:20

Title:  It's Thanksgiving and the Kids are Home

Stood in line - at the checkout stand
Smiled back  - at the groceryman
Picked out the turkey, - none likes been shown
For Thanksgiving Dinner, - the kids'll be home.

Stuffed the fowl - in the preheated oven
'Til he turns brown, - the way we're lov'n.
Stay all messages - and hold the phone,
It's Thanksgiving, - and the kids'll be home.

Put both leaves - in the dinning table.
Mom has set it, - as only she's able.
Knife is sharpened - on the whet stone.
It's Thanksgiving - and the kids'll be home.

There they are - at the front door.
Running and asking - what we got at the store.
"I like the breast, - I'd rather eat off the bone."
It's Thanksgiving - and the kids are home.

The kids' kids are here, - their picture we've shown.
You know the ones, - we ever brag on?
They'll go through the house - in each room roam.
It's Thanksgiving - and the kids are home.

Mom's spread the table, - Dad's cut up the bird.
Now's there's a comotion, - loudest we've heard.
Mom has gone - and shut the TV down.
Just as the Cowboys - made a First-Down.
So on it goes, - like a Hippodrone.
It's Thanksgiving - and the kids are home.

"Thank you Lord, - for this we eat,
but thank you most - because you're so sweet,
To look past our failings - and still go on.
And thanks for Thanksgiving, - 'cause the kids are home."

After dinner we'll discuss - politics and ball.
And who is and should be - in Fame's hall.
The ladies talk  - and clean up the mess.
Discuss Christmas - and "Is that a new dress?"

Then after the food - has setteled down.
The men wonder - if there're pies around.
Get out the small plates - and the whipped-up foam,
It's Thanksgiving - and the kids are home.

Now Mom and I - have prop'd-up our feet,
With a ton of left-overs - to last a week.
The kids've left - and we are a little forlorn,
'Cause it's still Thanksgiving, - but the kids are gone.

G. Steven Andres

Title:  A Thanksgiving Poem
 

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned -- the dark meat and white,
but I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
the thought of a snack became infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
and gazed at the fridge, full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie

But, I managed to yell as I soared past the trees ....
happy eating to all -- pass the cranberries, please!

Title:  You Can Overdue Thanksgiving if...

You can Overdue Thanksgiving if ...

* You spill more food on you than the local soup kitchen dispenses

* Paramedics bring in the Jaws of Life to pry you out of the EZ-Boy

* Your after dinner moans are loud enough to signal Dr. Kevorkian

* The "Gravy Boat" your wife set out was a real 12' boat!

* The potatoes you used set off another famine in Ireland

* You get grass stains on your bottom after a walk, but never sat down

* Your "Big Elvis Super-Belt" won't even go around your waist

* You receive a Sumo Wrestler application in your e-mail

* You set off 3 earthquake seismographs on your morning jog Friday

* Pricking your finger for cholesterol screening only yielded gravy

* You have 5 TV sets side-by-side to catch all the football games

* A guest quotes a Biblical passage from "The Feeding of the 5000"

* That rash on your stomach turns out to be steering wheel burn

* Your wife wears a life jacket at night in your water bed

* Representatives from the Butterball Hall of Fame called twice

* You consider gluttony as your patriotic duty

* It looks like the left-overs are gonna last until Christmas

* Your arms are too short to reach the keyboard & delete this

Title:  Definitions for a Husband on Thanksgiving Day

DEFINITIONS FOR MY HUSBAND ON THANKSGIVING DAY
by Shan Kish

PLAYBOOK:  Also known as my cookbook, to be kept in plain sight at all times, if the book gets moved, the game could get ugly.

OFFSIDES:  Silverware is to be set next to the plates... off to the side dear, not tossed in the middle of the table in a heap, for all to scramble for.

GAME TIME:  This is when the food must all be on the table, at the same time, at the same temperature (preferably hot) so that the *teams* may meet at the arena (Table) for the coach to say the prayer.

TEAM SPIRIT:  That which shall be upheld until the END of the game. When the coach (ME) has heard the fat lady sing (AUNT MARTHA saying that she's had enough to eat).

COMMERCIAL BREAKS:  There will be NONE for us, until I deem them totally necessary for my sanity, when you have made me crazy!

PENALTIES:  Will be given if there is no team spirit showing and the game time is DELAYED or offsides have occurred due to a certain *televised* football game engaging your attention!

HOLDING:  May be necessary of several large bowls, so that I may pour gravy without staining my new silk blouse.  And keep in mind dear, I am HOLDING the clicker for the T.V. for ransom ;).

TOUCHDOWNS:  Please make them gentle when bowls are being touched down on the table, do not spike them, do not dance when the mission is complete!

FLAG ON THE PLAY:  When something is spilled, PLEASE by all means throw a towel down on it and mop it up!

RUSHING:  What we will be doing a lot of!!

and last but not least...

GROOMING THE FIELD:  Dear husband, if you help me through this meal, as I know you will, I promise to RECRUIT new players for the clean up and YES... in plenty of time for you to enjoy the REAL GAME!!!

Title:  There Goes the Wallpaper
 

TULSA, OK (DPI) - In what is becoming more and more common on holidays here in America, an entire family exploded shortly after finishing their Thanksgiving dinner.  Investigators from the Tulsa Sheriff Department said that, while the sheer size of the meal certainly played a part in the Turkey Day Massacre, the straw that broke the gobbler's back was in fact the whipped cream on the top of the pumpkin pie.

Sheriff Bill Gutt commented, "Yep, it was the Cool-Whip what done it.  People just ain't got no common sense."

Title:  Be Thankful

BE THANKFUL
 
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.
 
Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.
 
Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.
 
It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.
 
Author unknown.