Are You Blessed?

Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  Give thanks to Him, bless his name  For the Lord is good; His loving kindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

Hey Gang:  In the first year of Eagle Village we were 'fixen' to sit down to a magnificent feast of turkey, tatters, yams, greens and topped off with pumpkin pie and whipped cream.   It was a feast to behold until one of the younger members of our adopted family spoke up and ask the following question, "Mr. H.  What is thanksgiving and why do we make such a big deal out of it?"

Now I must admit I was really taken back, not because the lad asked the question, but because I did not have a clue how to answer him.  The things I remembered as a little twerp growing up at 324 Beech Avenue, Altoona, Pennsylvania, was - it was a day off  school, I did not have to sweep the walks and porches and best of all, I did not have to clean the cellar. It was also the one day of the year that we were allowed to eat our fill of Gramma's famous more apple dumplings.

Since the question was asked before we said the blessing and passed the first tray of goodies around, the subject passed by without any further discussion but I did make a vow to do some research in case they reminded me feast of the question tomorrow.

I learned that the first Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and celebrated with a feast of thanksgiving for the good harvest.   In the early years Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England and by both state and church leaders until after the American Revolution.

Proclamations were made by royal governors, John Hancock, General George Washington, and the Continental Congress, each giving thanks to God for events favorable to their causes.  As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.  We need our President to do that this year.

Was that the end of the discussion on Thanksgiving at Starr House that year? No, the same young man, who I felt had wisdom beyond is twelve years, asked yet another question that I could not answer.  He asked, "Mr. H. Why can't we have thanksgiving 364 days each year and be grumpy just one day?"  Again, I stood in a dumbfounded state not knowing how to answer this young lad. 

I believe, if I could sit this youngster on my lap today, I would first give him a warm hug and let him know how much I loved him.  I recommend you do that with those around you.  I would say to him, God loves him so much that He sent His only Son to die on a hideous cross so that we could be freed from the bondage of sin.  I would tell him no matter what has happened in our lives, we can be so very thankful that He, Abba Father will never leave us or forsake us.

Soooo, my friends and neighbors, there are many verses in the Bible that I could share with him but keep in mind the main part of the conversation about Thanksgiving that night was based on a love relationship that I had for that child, and has been repeated down through the years thousands of times with other children who are crying out for a warmth of someone's love.

Blessings,

Gramps.