Corona Devo 1733

America has many nuances specific to its land and people, and one of them is today: Thanksgiving.

I don't know of another country in the world that has dedicated a day to being grateful, and because of this, Thanksgiving is a unique holiday...and a powerful one. 

Gratitude forces us to focus on all that we have been given, and the very practice of gratitude erases entitlement and self-focus, because to be grateful, we have to acknowledge all that we have been blessed with. 

And it's a lot.

It is good to praise the Lord...  ~Psalm 92:1

~~~

If we can make the historical mental-leap back in time to ponder the (emotional/physical/spiritual) place that the Pilgrims were in when they decided to dedicate a day to placing their gratitude on a platter and offering it to God for all that He had provided to them...

If we can do that today: well, that's the secret to Thanksgiving: giving thanks.  

The Pilgrims were (literally) forging their way in a land brand new to them.  They started from scratch in terms of everything from housing to food to daily routines.  

But one thing was known and established so deep in the fabric of their souls that it propelled and was the foundation for all else: their faith in God.  The first Thanksgiving was a day for people of God (and we are all God's people) to give gratitude to God for all that He had provided.

Years have passed and times have changed since the Pilgrims gathered in 1621 for a friendly meal with Wampanoag Indians, but the Thanksgiving Day principle of thankfulness remains steadfast for those who love the Lord.  

Today is a day to say "Thanks" to the Giver of all good things.  

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.  ~James 1:17

Today we will mimic much of that very first Pilgrim Thanksgiving, as we gather with friends and family at a table spread with a bounty of food. 

May we also embody the thankful hearts that initiated that first Thanksgiving Day: gratitude to God. 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  ~Psalm 100:4  


The cornucopia (a horn-shaped basket overflowing with fruits and vegetablkes) has become a symbol of Thanksgiving, but did you know that this concept is straight from the Bible?  Cornucopia is Latin for horn of plenty, and God instructed the people of Israel (His people) to honor Him by bringing the first fruits of their harvests (plenty) to Him in a spirit of giving thanks to Him.   

When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, (2) take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name (3) and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” 

(4) The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God.  ~Deuteronomy 26:1-4

Look around our Nation.  Look around our lives.  Look around our hearts.  

We have much in our basket of blessings to be thankful for, and all of them are courtesy of our Lord.  

For health.  For family and friends.  For life.  For hope.  For love.  For nature and animals.  For freedom.  For the Lord.  For our salvation.  

All of our gratitude stems from the one true God who gave His Son to save us.  

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  ~John 3:16

Aren't we thankful?  

Give thanks to God today.  

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, (7) rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thanksgiving.  ~Colossian 2:6-7

Today is a day to say "Thanks" to the Giver of all good things.  

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com

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