D0 YOU ever wonder about the very first thanksgiving experienced by the pilgrims and their new best friends, the Indians? I know what I have read in history books! I am aware of how the new thinkers are wanting to change history to suit themselves! However, the very first thanksgiving had to be full of many firsts. The first large gathering of people full of excitement because of their great crops that year. The first gathering of foreigners on this new land and those who felt this land was theirs alone. The first time these people came together in unity and began to share in thanking God. Wow! Not to mention the first, of eating new kinds of food!
I WAS two weeks shy of 24 when Jim and I married . As the year moved on we began to approach our first thanksgiving as a married couple. My family gatherings were always large because there were so many. We had just moved into our first home and I was going to be making my first pies! Growing up I baked cakes, Joyce did pies.....I was excited and Clarence, my brother-in-law was giving me pointers and even came out to taste my crust. My spirits were not daunted by his constructive criticism, because these were my very first and they looked good!
WE LEFT for church as was our custom on Thanksgiving Day, and then on to celebrate with family. Later that night as we returned home, Jim and I noticed that all the lights were on and the front door was standing wide open. Our new puppy, Frosty, was sitting behind the screen door whimpering. We approached the door cautiously. We could hear the TV, and carefully went inside! No one was there! Our back door was badly scratched from Frosty’s trying to get out to do her business. Evidence that she couldn’t wait was apparent on the carpet by the front door. Obviously, with all the excitement of the morning surrounding ‘pies’, we forgot to secure our home and care for our baby. Some of the air in our bubble began to leak as we tried to put things back in order. How could we have done that? How could we both have neglected our new home, and baby in such a careless manner?
EXCITEMENT does that to a person! Are you excited when Sunday morning comes? When the church family is planning their big thanksgiving dinner, are you excited? Do you get excited when you know that the church doors will be open and knowing family fellowship is just ahead? Through the years I have known many who are always there when the doors are open. They must be excited! I know that I am, but then I am one who hates to miss out on anything!
THE BOOK of Psalms is full of David’s heart declaring his thanks to the Lord. "O Lord, I love the habitation of thy house, and the place where the glory dwells!" Psalms 26:8 "Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. Psalms 95:2-3 "Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him; bless His name for the Lord is good; His loving kindness is everlasting, and His faithfulness is to all generations". Psalms 100:4-5 Aren’t you excited and thankful to belong to the Kingdom of God?
THE EARLY pilgrims suffered many hardships when they entered the domain of the Indians. Many Conflicts arose among the good and the bad! Those who sought peace were able to find it with those who were also seeking peace. When I think about my beginnings with Jim, I marvel at how far we have come together, in the Lord. We are thankful everyday, but around the day we call Thanksgiving, it becomes more of a concentrated effort. I pray this week is filled with excitement and expectations; I pray that blessings will be many; I pray that the peace of God will surround this world of confusion; I pray that the lost will be found! I pray that God’s kingdom in this world will "Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands! That they will Come into His presence with singing!" Psalms 100:1-2 By Jane Ann Crenshaw (11/11/08) 11/22/14
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