As we once again celebrate Thanksgiving, our hearts well up with gratefulness for our Creator who provides all things for His children.  I thought perhaps this year we should take a few moments and reflect on the beginning of this great holiday.  Let’s start with an awesome poem on the subject!

The Twenty-Fourth Psalm

By Margaret Rorke

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,”

Sang the psalmist in worship of old.

And the pilgrims used this as their paean of love

On Thanksgiving, so we have been told.

They were thankful for life.  They were thankful for food.

They were thankful for finding this sod.

Here their people could be where the worship was free;

For all this they were thankful to God.

On this day when we pause, when we gather to feast,

When we’re counting our labor’s rewards,

It is well we recall what’s oft lost with the least:

That the earth and its gifts are the Lord’s.

-Ideals Vol 58, No.5 p.52

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING

“The First New England Thanksgiving. The first American Thanksgiving was celebrated less than a year after the Plymouth colonists had settled in the new land.  The first dreadful winter in Massachusetts had killed nearly half of the members of the colony.  But new hope grew up in the summer of 1621.  The corn harvest brought rejoicing.  Governor William Bradford decreed that a three-day feast be held.

“The first Thanksgiving Day, set aside for the special purpose of prayer as well as celebration, was decreed by Governor Bradford for July 30, 1623.

“The women of the colony spent many days preparing for the feast.  The children helped by turning roasts on spits in front of open fires.  Native Americans brought wild turkeys and venison (Deer meat).  The men of the colony brought geese, ducks and fish.  The women served the meat and fish with journey cake, corn bread with nuts, and succotash.  Everyone ate outdoors at big tables.”

-World Book Encyclopedia 1962  p.180

“Although Thanksgiving did not become an official national holiday until 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln declared that it be celebrated on the last Thursday of each November, it was President George Washington who first realized a need for the nation to set aside a day dedicated to prayer, supplication, and gratitude for our country’s and our families’ blessings.  Washington’s proclamation was made in 1789, more than 160 years after the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in the New World.

GEORGE WASHINGTON’S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

Oct 3, 1789

“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 thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God…

“Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26^th of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be….”

-          Condensed from Ideals Magazine Vol 56 No. 5  p.44

The Greater Wealth

By Mary E. Linton

With humble gratitude and pride I lift

My eyes to heaven, thankful for the gift

Of this broad land, my country, and my home.

No other place beneath blue heaven’s dome

Holds in its lap such riches and such power.

It is so good to be alive this hour!

Dear God, let this sink deep into my soul.

In this one moment let the years unroll,

Throbbing their full significance; my part

Outlined in glorious pattern on my heart.

I want to give part of myself, my own

Soul’s fiber for this land that I have known.

For I was hungry and it gave me meat,

The deeper hunger in my heart’s white heat

Found music, art, and laughter, yes, and tears,

With which to march triumphant down the years.

Great God and Master of our noble land,

I stand alert with courage in my hand.

Help me with liberty from life’s rich store

To “lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

“A thoughtful mind . . . sees not the flag only, but the nation itself . . . the principles, the truths, the history.”  Henry Ward Beecher

-ibid p.47

History relates how the Pilgrims had gone through many hardships.  They had lost countless loved ones: they had almost starved but God had seen them through.  They survived!  Not only that but they had an abundant harvest.  The natives joined them in this heartfelt celebration.  All of their hearts were filled with gratefulness to Almighty God.

There are a lot of hardships going on right now in America.  Many people have lost their jobs.  Others have lost their homes.  Some have lost their loved ones.  Heartache for so many of our brothers and sisters are all around us.  However, America was founded on thankfulness to Almighty God!  The Bible tells us that if we stop worrying but go to God in prayer with thanksgiving in our hearts, we will have God’s peace encompass us!

The Peace of God is so precious.  Have you ever tried to be truly thankful and entertain anger, despair or anxiety at the same time? It is not possible!  When we thank God during every crisis as well as the good times, His Peace fills us.

“…but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Phil. 4:6-7

“Our favorite attitude should be gratitude.”  (Author unknown)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I think one of the most uplifting topics to dwell upon is the topic of Heaven!  So as we prepare our hearts for the most delightful holiday of Thanksgiving, I thought we would take a few moments and think about Heaven.  My mother wrote a wonderful poem called ‘Heaven’ that I am going to share.  All of her precious questions have long been answered as she has been enjoying the wonders of that marvelous place now for almost 15 years.

HEAVEN

By Dora Grier

I’ve just been a wondering what Heaven will be like,

When we have washed and cooked all day and nothing went just right.

We are so very tired and we ache in every joint –

Will it be the same as this, or have we missed a point?

Will we remember all the things that irritate us so?

Or will it be all peace and joy – our faces all aglow

With all the love and thankfulness which wells up in our hearts,

To know we’ll be with Him in Heaven and never more depart?

The Good Book tells us of the things we really need to know

By putting all our trust in Him, it will truly help us grow

In grace and in the love of God, so generously given

By Him who gave His life for us and builds our home in Heaven.

The tears will all be washed away, with ne’er a trace to find.

The aches and pains will all be gone and health will be sublime.

Our mortal bodies will then know the Resurrection power

Of Him who lived and died for us ‘mid Heaven’s darkest hour.

So, if you do not understand nor fully comprehend,

The riches of the grace of God – a taste which Heaven sends –

Just trust Him with the future and rest in Him complete,

For up in Heaven we’ll all rejoice and worship at His feet!

My brothers along with my sister and I spent many hours contemplating what Heaven was going to be like.  These are some of my most precious memories.  There are several conclusions we came to back there, shared with my parents who confirmed their truth.  I know for certain that our parents started us on the topic and encouraged us in it.  But nevertheless, it was a glorious exploration.

We discovered the verse in Phil 3:20-21 where we learn that we will have bodies like Christ’s glorious body.  Ooh, how exciting!  We really became excited as we started to delve into what the Bible said about what Jesus could do in His Glorified Body after He rose from the dead.

We discovered that He could walk through walls, yet His body was a physical body that you could touch and handle.  You read about when He did this in John 20:19-27.  In this situation, Jesus walked through the wall and challenged Thomas to touch Him and to believe the Truth!  Therefore, we were excited!  We will be able to do things that the movies do plus more.

We will be able to stroll leisurely down the road or through the park yet travel at the speed of thought.  Jesus, when He saw Mary Magdalene after He had risen from the dead told her not to touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father.  Notice, He made this instant trip to Heaven and back to walk with the disciples in short order.  He has a glorious resurrected body!  Ours will be like His.  Do not mistake me – we will not ever be God, but we will have a wonderful body like His one day.

We will be able to actually eat food in Heaven.  Jesus ate food following His resurrection when He prepared fish and bread for His disciples by the sea.  He also told them at the last supper that He would not be eating and drinking again with them until they were together in the Kingdom of God.  Also, we will not have allergies nor get fat when we get to Heaven.  I think that’s pretty cool too!

He has a plan for our future that is more glorious than anything we can dream up.  He says that in His Word.  He says that eye has not seen nor ear heard neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things that the Lord has in store for us.  That is pretty inclusive.  Not even our great writers of movies or fiction stories can dream up the wonderful things that are in store for His children.

Does that mean we shouldn’t think about it because we can’t understand it all?  Not at all for the Bible tells us to think about these things when we are seeing problems everywhere.  Luke 21:28 talks about things going on around us and we are to look up because Jesus is coming soon.  Plus 1 Thess. 4:18 says that we should think about and comfort one another with the things that God has revealed that are coming to pass.  We kids reveled in these scriptures and let our imaginations run wild.  It was fun!

I like what H.K. Downie has to say about Heaven.

“In heaven above, Marys and Marthas will weep no more because a brother dies.  There will be no Rachels weeping for their children because they are not.  Broken ties will be reknit; lost links will be found again; all hearts will be bound together and no heart will break, for we shall be where there is fullness of joy and pleasures for evermore.”

Uncle Ben’s Quotebook (Harvest House Publishers c1976) .p.186

In this dark world of sin and pain

We only meet to part again;

But when we reach the heavenly shore,

We there shall meet to part no more;

The joy that we shall see that day

Shall chase our present griefs away

Ibid 187

Dear reader, I am so excited about what I have to share with you today!  But before I get to what I am sharing I need to give you a little background to our story.

About 20 years ago, God gave me an assignment!  He said He wanted me to study Isaiah Chapter 59!  Oooh was I excited!  Wow!  God gave ME an assignment – how cool is that!  I hurriedly got out my bible and read the chapter.  “Hum,” I thought.  “Did I hear Him wrong?  He can’t possibly mean chapter 59 – it doesn’t make a bit of sense!” I asked Him and again that chapter was confirmed.

I began to read it.  I read it over and over and over.  About 20 times later, the message was suddenly revealed.  Then every few years, God would open up more about this incredible chapter to me.  Well, this morning, dear reader, He showed me something new about the chapter.  I am going to tell you its story first.

God starts by answering a question.  Perhaps the question was, “God where are you?  Why don’t you answer my prayer?  Don’t you know what kind of trouble I’m in?” Whatever the question, God begins by saying, “Don’t you know that there’s nothing wrong with my arm that would make it impossible for me to save you?  Don’t you know that my ears are fine!  My hearing is great!  I can hear you just fine.  The problem is, you are walking in sin and that is what is separating us.”

Then we begin.  First we find that the Dude or Dudette is walking in sin.  It is getting worse and worse.  He is hanging with the wrong crowd.  Then he gets in deeper — stealing, lying, drugs, abuse and more.  The deeper he gets into this stuff, the more the enemy intrudes.  He finds icky stuff surrounding him.  He is in bondage.  He is caught in a web of horrible evil.  Sound familiar?

Finally, he decides he’s had enough and he is going to live for God.  He tries to walk away.  He puts the past behind.  Then God explains how He looks down on Dude or Dudette and sees that whenever anyone leaves evil, he becomes a prey.  Wow is he under attack.  Everything possible seems to come against him to drag him down.  Everything that could go wrong seems to go wrong.  God sees that he doesn’t have anyone to intercede for him and help him and that makes God angry.

He puts on Salvation for a Helmet and Righteousness for a breastplate.  He then puts on zeal and clothes Himself with Vengeance (the one piece of armor He doesn’t allow us to wear!).  He comes down in fury and deals with the enemy.

It also tucks this wonderful verse so familiar to many of us right in here.  “When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard against him.” Do you get it?  God is fighting against the enemies of Dude or Dudette and the Holy Spirit of God lifts up a standard.  This is a banner at the beginning of an army leading them to war.  The Spirit leads the armies of heaven to fight against those who are hurting poor Dude or Dudette.

After the victory is totally won, we get to the part I want to share with you.  Oh, how I wish you were sitting across the table from me right now as I share this exciting part!  Can you picture God getting the attention of Dude or Dudette?  Perhaps He puts a hand on each cheek and raises their faces to behold Him.  He says, “Look at me.  I have an important message to tell you.  Have I got your attention?” Whatever He does, we read in Isaiah 59 that He says, “I am making a covenant with you today.  I am putting My Words in your mouth.  These words will never depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your children, nor from the mouth of your children’s children forever.”

What a promise!  No matter how much we have messed up our lives and maybe even the lives of our beloved children, when we turn everything over to God, He promises to also help our children!  Oh, how thrilling is this revelation to me and I trust to you as well.

OH, MAKE MY GARDEN GROW!

Eccl. 4:16

By Charlie Grier

A fruitful field – a garden of choice spices

My life would be filled with Thyself alone.

Those blighted years the cancer worm hath taken

Restore O God and make me all Thine own.

Oh, come south wind and blow upon my garden.

Oh, warm my heart with Thy sweet love divine.

Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation.

And fill my life with tenderness sublime.

It is the little weeds that choke my garden –

The little foxes that destroy the vine!

It’s not great crimes that make my life unfruitful –

Those little sins!  Oh, make me wholly Thine!

Oh, wash me now, O Christ, my Lord and Savior.

Purge me from sin and make me all Thine own.

Take from my life that stony heart of coldness!

Fill me with love and make my garden grow!

How marvelous to have the promise from God’s Word that when we turn our lives over to Him, He will not only forgive us and heal our lives but He will also help our children.

GOOD SAMARITAN

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.  She asked the class, “If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?” A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, “I think I’d throw up.”

I love the current study many ladies from this area are taking in Grand Rapids.  It is a study on the book of Esther, by Beth Moore.  In week three she makes the following statement:  “Let’s learn to be thankful every time we feel sorry for even our smallest offense toward someone.”

Have you ever thought about your conscience as a gift from God?  The uncomfortable feelings we get when we have maligned someone or told a ‘white lie’ or angrily spoke out of turn is the very thing we are talking about.  If we didn’t feel bad, our conscience would be seared and we would be in trouble.

We watch television programs where someone has committed a terrible atrocity but when caught and convicted, they sneer and are angrily plotting revenge.  There is no remorse.  What about the men who killed thousands such as Hitler in the 40’s?  There was simple glee for every life destroyed – no sorrow evident.  This is appalling to us and we would never want to be like that!

How can we protect and nurture this tender conscience that God placed in each of His children?   If we want to protect our conscience, to begin with, we need to thank God for giving it to us.  We need to ask Him to keep it tender – if it has been damaged, ask Him to restore it.

“People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine when the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in

their true beauty is revealed

only if there is light from within.”

-by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

If we want true inner beauty to shine out from within us, we must know that God of Love and have him within.  As we walk with Him, our conscience is restored and developed.  I received this poem through the e-mail.  I don’t know the title or author for the poem, but it has quite a message for us to give us hope.

Whatever your cross,
Whatever your pain,
There will always be sunshine,
After the rain….

Perhaps you may stumble,
Perhaps even fall,
But God’s always ready,
To answer your call…

He knows every heartache,
Sees every tear,
A word from His lips,
Can calm every fear…

Your sorrows may linger,
Throughout the night,
But suddenly vanish,
In dawn’s early light…

The Savior is waiting,
Somewhere above,
To give you His grace,
And send you His love…

Whatever your cross,
Whatever your pain,
“God always sends rainbows ….
After the rain…”

I think one of the things that can really help us keep our conscience alive is to purposely strive to be a blessing to those around us.  If we can work at serving and blessing, we will become more aware of the needs and pains of people and our conscience will become more increasingly tender.

CHANGED LIVES

By Tim Kimmel

“In 1921, Lewis Lawes became the warden at Sing Sing Prison.  No prison was tougher than Sing Sing during that time.  But when Warden Lawes retired some 20 years later that prison had become a humanitarian institution.  Those who studied the system said credit for the change belonged to Lawes.  But when he was asked about the transformation, here’s what he said:  ‘I owe it all to my wonderful wife, Catherine, who is buried outside the prison walls.’

“Catherine Lawes was a young mother with three small children when her husband became the warden.  Everybody warned her from the beginning that she should never set foot inside the prison walls, but that didn’t stop Catherine!  When the first prison basketball game was held, she went . . . walking into the gym with her three beautiful kids and she sat in the stands with the inmates.

“Her attitude was: ‘My husband and I are going to take care of these men and I believe they will take care of me!  I don’t have to worry!’

“She insisted on getting acquainted with them and their records.  She discovered one convicted murderer was blind so she paid him a visit.  Holding his hand in hers she said, ‘Do you read Braille?’

“’What’s Braille?’ he asked.  Then she taught him how to read.  Years later he would weep in love for her.

“Later, Catherine found a deaf-mute in prison.  She went to school to learn how to use sign language.  Many said that Catherine Lawes was the body of Jesus that came alive again in Sing Sing from 1921 to 1937.

“Then, she was killed in a car accident.  The next morning Lewis Lawes didn’t come to work, so the acting warden took his place.  It seemed almost instantly that the prison knew something was wrong.

“The following day, her body was resting in a casket in her home, three-quarters of a mile from the prison.  As the acting warden took his early morning walk, he was shocked to see a large crowd of the toughest, hardest-looking criminals gathered like a herd of animals at the main gate.  He came closer and noted tears of grief and sadness.  He knew how much they loved Catherine.  He turned and faced the men, ‘All right, men, you can go.  Just be sure and check in tonight!’ Then he opened the gate and a parade of criminals walked, without a guard, the three-quarters of a mile to stand in line to pay their final respects to Catherine Lawes.  And every one of them checked back in.  Every one!

-Chicken soup for the Soul (Health Communications c1997) p.60-61