To be honest, when I was growing up Thanksgiving was a time to take a break from the daily grind of life, whether it was having a few days off from school or during my later years, having time off from work. Additionally, it was a time to get together with family around a special meal that is only served at Thanksgiving, and also maybe Christmas. And the stories related to the origins of Thanksgiving or even having a holiday intentionally focused on being thankful seemed more relevant to those who found ways to survive in the wilderness of a new land, or to those who came through the difficulties of war during the founding of this nation, or even for those trying to find hope in the midst of a great civil war. But for me, I had so many things to be thankful for that I took those things for granted, rather than truly being thankful. Additionally, even when I would reflect on being thankful, my focus was on those things in life that made my existence more comfortable, whether it be my work, or family, or my home, or any of the other comforts that made my life easier than those around me. And yes, we should be thankful for those things, but this is a very selfish and egocentric perspective that is difficult to acknowledge, and it is a trap that is very easy to become ensnared in living in a world focused on pleasure and self-indulgence.
So, I think that it is helpful during this season of “thanksgiving” to refocus and to reflect on the origins of this holiday and the underlying intentions of those who initiated a day of thanksgiving. My purpose here is not to provide a history lesson related to Thanksgiving, but to help see an overriding theme within this holiday that is relevant to today. History records note that the first “official Thanksgiving” in this country was at Plymouth when in 1621, the Pilgrims and individuals from the Wampanoag tribe had a feast of thanksgiving to God for all His blessings. Over the years a day of “Thanksgiving” was celebrated at different times and by different groups, but it did not become an annual holiday until the time of the Civil War. Within the span between the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, two presidents in particular played a significant role in establishing the annual holiday. In 1789, “President George Washington issued a proclamation designating November 26 of that year as a National Day of Thanksgiving to recognize the role of providence in creating the new United States and the new federal Constitution” (https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/thanksgiving/). According to Washington, the purpose of the National Day of Thanksgiving was “to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks.”
But it was not until 1863, amid a great Civil War, that Abraham Lincoln “took steps towards designating it a permanent federal holiday when he proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise (https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm). Lincoln stated “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. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People”.
Within the words of Washington and Lincoln we can see what should be the focus of our being thankful. For God, the Creator and sustainer of the Universe, sent his one and only son to die a horrific death, deserted on a lonely cross. For Jesus Christ is a sacrifice in our place for our sin filled life, so that through faith in Him we may have eternal life (“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life” John 3:16, NASB). For those who believe, this should be our whole focus of being thankful. And this thankfulness should not just be designated to a single day of the year, but it needs to be a daily focus, and throughout each and every day. And for those who do not believe, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a person sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit” (Galatians 6:7-8).