Food for thought this Thanksgiving Psalm 100:4 ~ “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” The following excerpts are from The American Patriot’s Bible: To celebrate the conclusion of the Revolutionary War, Massachusetts Governor John Hancock issued a Proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving on December 11, 1783. In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln initiated the first National Day of Thanksgiving and Praise on October 3, 1863, issuing a formal Proclamation, pass-ed by an act of Congress, inviting fellow citizens in every part of the United States to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a “day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” President Lincoln further implored “the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as may be consistent with the Divine purposes for the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.” In his 1815 Thanksgiving Day proclamation, President James Madison stated in part; “and to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious, as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.” If former governors and presidents knew to be thankful in the midst of wars and social discord, we should continue to do the same. If we fail to display gratitude and praise what will be the fate of our children and their children’s children? Sam
