Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good, His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100:4-5

Thanksgiving is already here. Can you believe it? I know it’s here because that’s when my wife starts playing Christmas music in our home. Wasn’t it yesterday that we celebrated Labor Day? It’s no trite saying that time flies as you get older. You and I both know how true that is.

I do have to say, however, that I look forward to the approaching holy-days, and not just because family comes together. I love it because these holidays inspire a time to pause (even if it’s a brief pause) and ponder the splendor and goodness of God. It’s easy in times of abundance and plenty to forget the source of our good gifts and focus on the stuff. In times of adversity it can be challenging to remember all the goodness God continually provides, and focus on the pain.

Unquestionably, the Pilgrims knew about adversity that first year especially after arriving at New Plymouth on the Mayflower. Within their first four months together nearly half of the 106 souls who began the journey to the New World died. Yet, they never failed to give thanks to God for what they did have, as little as it was. They knew that struggles could make them bitter, or make them better. They choose better.

Those remaining Pilgrim sons and daughters, mothers and father, grandfathers and grandmothers chose to place their trust in God, and in so doing, they laid the foundation for a great nation. That first Thanksgiving in 1621 was more than a celebration of good food, survival, and new friendships with the Wampanoag Indians. It was a celebration of God’s goodness and kindness. It was the human spirit reaching out in gratitude to God for indescribable blessings. It is a story of thanksgiving not often told, especially in your grandchildren’s schools, but one that needs to be told and retold in every generation.

This Thanksgiving around the dinner table why not tell the true story of God’s faithfulness as a new nation was being birthed that October in 1621. Tell them about their faith in the Almighty Hand of a gracious Heavenly Father who cares and is worthy of our praise. Their story is our story, and we would do well to remember and give thanks to God to Whom thanks is due.

If you’d like to read some of the true stories of these Pilgrims, Dr. Ralph F. Wilson has assembled many of them from the records and documents produced by the Pilgrims’ own hands, especially Governor William Bradford. You can find them at www.joyfulheart.com. Click Thanksgiving in the topics column, and you’ll find them. Share them with your children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews. Then remind them that even in difficult times God is still good and gracious. Enjoy a pause from all the time consuming activities of the holiday season…and give thanks!

We would do well to also remember the words of President Abraham Lincoln delivered to the people of this nation in his Thanksgiving Proclamation on October 3, 1963. “I recommend to them,” he wrote, “that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him [God] for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience…fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”

Amen, Mr. President, and a Blessed Thanksgiving to all who call upon the Name of the Lord!

P.S.: I also encourage you watch John Stonestreet’s Two Minute Warning video about this first Thanksgiving—the part of the story not told in our schools. Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqQIEYZadC8&feature=colike