For what are we really thankful

Americans from all political and religious orientations will once again pause this year to celebrate another Thanksgiving. I can't help to wonder if we, as a people, really understand the reason for this day and ask ourselves if we are really thankful. Most people consider Thanksgiving as a secular holiday, but it is impossible to separate God from Thanksgiving. This traditional North American holiday is a form of harvest festival. According to some historians, the earliest attested Thanksgiving celebration took place on September 8, 1565. The traditional view still holds that the first Thanksgiving took place at the Plymouth Plantation location, in 1621. Simply put, Thanksgiving was the people's expression of thanks to God Almighty for His provision and protection. President George Washington, in his Thanksgiving proclamation on October 3, 1789, writes: "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, and whereas both 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 signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness"

It is very clear that Thanksgiving was all about God and what he has done for His people. It was a time for a grateful nation, as a whole, to say thanks to their Provider and Protector. It was a time for the people to acknowledge that nothing was done by their own strength and power, but by God's. It was not because they deserved any of the blessings God bestowed upon them, but because of His mercy and grace. No one could have expressed the idea behind Thanksgiving better than President Abraham Lincoln in his Thanksgiving declaration on October 3, 1863: "No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens." Today, the tendency is to secularize our culture, and with that, every holiday. The simple mention of God makes many very uneasy. Thanksgiving has become more and more secular. There is less and less mention of God in our celebration. The problem then is to decide if we still want to call this holiday "Thanksgiving". What are we really thankful for? Whom are we thankful to? For those of us who still believe, with the apostle James, that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (1:17), let us make sure that we thank our Heavenly Father not only on Thanksgiving day, but every day as long as we shall live.