The Soul of Thanksgiving

  

“There‘s nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor…that it was from the hand of God.” Ecclesiastes 2:24

 

The year was 1863. Abraham Lincoln was President. Strife ruled. The nation was at war with itself. Today seems no different. The landscape by most visionaries was bleak and dreary. The nation seemed to have lost its bearings and its very soul. Being thankful under these conditions was seemingly impossible. The nation needed to mend its fraying fabric.

Under these dire conditions Lincoln issued a proclamation establishing the last Thursday in November as a national holiday. His intent was to reconnect a nation of diverse cultures and individuals into a cohesive whole by remembering the origin of its birth. This year Americans will celebrate the 158^th anniversary of Thanksgiving.

In 1620 pilgrims departed Defts-Haven, searching for a new land with the ephemeral idea of freedom. They had no idea of what to expect in their quest. As if the hardships of the voyage were not enough to deter them, what they saw at landfall must have made them question their sanity altogether.

There, looming before them in the stark winter stood a harsh land with a weather-beaten face. It must have appeared to them a country full of woods and thickets, a place of untamed beasts and wild men. It surely had an ominous and savage hue. Such is the nature of the unknown…wild, fearful yet full of promise.

It was up to these pilgrims to carve out their dreams and visions. They neither expected nor received the benefits of ease in the process. The bridges had been burned, then there was only one backup: God. For having left their homes, having said goodbye to their families and friends, they said goodbye to the old life and searched for a better home.

Today we are benefiting from the sacrifices of these visionaries. We can ask ourselves these questions: Under what tyranny would we now be living if not for the perseverance of these intrepid travelers? How would our destiny have unfolded?

Fortunately, we have the answers. Living in America is a blessing of untold and incalculable dimensions. Read world news if you don’t believe this.

For years our family celebrated Thanksgiving in the small country town of my youth. The memories are fresh. The essence of those Thanksgivings is reflected today in the photographs of the smiling faces of family members and a table full of food.

The soul of an American Thanksgiving also has a face and a soul. It is seen in the Rockwell-blended faces of families and merged into a national tapestry. Each face represents a precious memory of a home where families can thrive.

The blessings of national unity, even as fractious as it is today, are too broad to mention. But the collective voice of Thanksgiving blends them together in spite of differences at every table where food is served, where laughter is heard and where love is shared.  The soul of being American can once again be revived on this special day.

Today the world is a dangerous place. It’s fractious, filled with secular pursuits, religious divisions and seethes with national rivalries.  Our country itself is not immune from its own diverse mindsets.

Yet in spite of this, America continues to stand, strong in the collective unity under which it was founded…established by a beneficent God for the purpose of freedom. A continuous remembrance of this is a big part of what Thanksgiving is all about.

Today began cloudy here on the coast of Georgia, but the sun has emerged, and so have the squirrels. They sit fearlessly on their hind quarters, gnawing acorns from the abundant crop furnished by the oak trees.

America has endured many storms. It will weather more. But, like the squirrels, we can take comfort in the fact that a gracious, Almighty God desires to furnish us with blessings. Our collective soul will continue to flourish as long as we remember the Source of these blessings.

* * *

Thank you, Abraham Lincoln, for your foresight. And thank you, God, for blessing the soul of America another year. Happy Thanksgiving to each of you and your family.

Truly, our cup runneth over.

 

Bud Hearn

November 22, 2021