There’s a holiday coming up. It’s called Thanksgiving. It’s not Turkey Day, or rest up for black Friday shopping day, or even get ready for hunting camp day. It’s called Thanksgiving and it is intended for the giving of thanks. Many Americans have a problem with this concept. It’s not that they have nothing to be thankful for, it’s that they have no one to be thankful to. It’s hard to be grateful when you have no idea from where your blessings come.
The first sentence of Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation says, “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…” Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Proclamation says, “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.”
The fourth Thursday of November is set aside as a day of thanksgiving to God. Unfortunately, many of our countrymen have forgotten God. This is sad because it is only by living a life in acknowledgement of God that we can fulfill our purpose on this earth and be truly happy.
Those of us who still believe in God and hold Him in high esteem need to take this opportunity to thank God and humbly implore Him to restore our land and to reveal Himself to our unbelieving brothers and sisters in a powerful way.
Our country is wandering in the wilderness now because so many of its citizens are lost. Those of us with a firm belief need to work harder than ever to bring the country back to the kind of Christian foundation it had at its founding.
The United States may not have been perfect at its creation, but it was the best country to ever be founded to that point and remains that even today. Alexis de Tocqueville said, “Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.” Let’s keep the faith.
PAUL RINKER
Montoursville
Submitted by Virtual Newsroom