Thanksgiving is not really a spiritual or religious holiday. By that I am observing that a special day set aside for the purpose of expressing gratitude for the providential care of God is not required of us in the Scriptures. However, we are well aware that our forefathers since the time of the earliest settlers were careful to set aside a time to express this thankfulness. Throughout the early years of our nation the date often changed and was different according to the state you lived in. There was no nationally recognized date until President Abraham Lincoln set a “national” date in order to stimulate some greater unity and healing after the civil war.
As a Thanksgiving celebration applies to us as Americans, I find at least two subjects to which we ought to give our attention. The first is the providential care of God in supplying us the necessities of our lives through the richness of our nation. I have been close enough to farming throughout my life to understand that hard work and energy are not enough to supply an abundant harvest. We are dependent upon the rains, the sunshine and protection from all forms of blight and pests if we are to enjoy good and abundant harvests. Our supply does not originate in the grocery store; it originates in the soil of our nation.
The second thing I would approach is the country itself that we live in. I have been reading lately about the founding of our nation, the military conflict, the construction of our constitution and the early years of our governmental growth. I have been saying to Charlotte as a result of my reading that in reality we have stumbled into this great nation. Charlotte, however, reminds me that it is rather the unseen and blessed Hand of Providence that has put us in this place and that should be a focus of our Thanksgiving. We truly have much to be grateful for and behind it all is the often unacknowledged and unseen hand of our gracious and merciful God.
