I know it's still a little over a week away, but I think it's about time to start our Thanks-giving. A few of my Facebook friends have, since the first of November, been updating their statuses each day with something they are thankful for. How great is that? They truly understand the meaning of Thanksgiving.
It's time for...you guessed it! A history quiz! We all know that the Pilgrims came over on the....good job. The Mayflower. And they all wore those cute little hats with big buckles and they had a jolly good time with the Indians and they had turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. Negative.
The first Thanksgiving was in 1621. The Pilgrims did in fact come over on the Mayflower and were able to initiate a sort of friendship and alliance with the Indians. But do you remember they year that they landed on Plymouth Rock? It wasn't 1621! Their first winter was devastating. Imagine how discouraged they were to have traveled so long under such harsh conditions only to be greeted with the harshest of seasons. And you do remember why they fled England, right? Religious persecution, A+ so far!
So, their first winter was harsh and unforgiving. 45 of the 102 on the Mayflower died in the first winter, and with other deaths throughout they year there is only estimated to have been 53 people alive to celebrate the first Thanksgiving along with about 90 natives that had befriended them.
The point of me telling you this rather dull and depressing side of the first Thanksgiving is to show that we have exponentially more to be thankful for! The past year or two I have struggled to be thankful for anything other than a select few people in my life. I know. It's bad, but I'm just trying to be honest. Sometimes we get in such a funk and we think that nothing else could possibly go wrong and that there is no coming back from this. But let's compare to the Pilgrims. They had fled religious persecution only to be greeted with death. They had only succeeded in building four houses during their first winter to house over 50 people. I think you get the point.
We live in a place where we are free to proclaim our faith without fear of being killed on the spot. While it is becoming increasingly hard, we are in no place to complain, but to rather fight all the more for our Lord and Savior. We have roofs over our heads. 2.3-3.5 million people IN OUR COUNTRY do not have that luxury. How saddening. We constantly complain about not having this or that and comparing ourselves to others and their belongings. 163,000,000 orphans. In the world. Right now. In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul commands us to care for the widowed, orphaned and the sojourners. We obviously aren't doing our job very well, are we?
Be thankful. That's all I ask. I have come to a place in my life where I have FINALLY realized that "all things come together for the glory of God" Romans 8:28. We have more to be thankful for than a roof over our heads and food on our table. Stop being so stereotypical, America. We have a Lord that is reigning and will reign from everlasting to everlasting. We have his breathed and inspired word at our fingertips and we have the ability to freely proclaim it! If we could bring ourselves to the shocking realization that some people are worse of than our spoiled little selves, the number of orphans, the number of homeless would decrease, and the number of blessed children of the kingdom of God would increase.
What more of a reward do we need?
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