The Pilgrims celebrated a Thanksgiving at the end of their first harvest after a year of disease, deprivation and death. It had probably been the worst year any of them could ever remember, but still they were thankful to God for all he had done for them. Can we do any less?
I know the year has been hard for many, I know that situations could be better, but in giving Thanks to God, we can take the focus off the negative and truly realize the good that comes through the hardships to all who believe in Him.
FIRE DREAMS
I remember here by the fire,
In the flickering reds and saffrons,
They came in a ramshuckle tub,
Pilgrims in tall hats,
Pilgrims of iron jaws,
Drifting by weeks on beaten seas,
And the random Chapters say
They were glad and sang to God.
And so
Since the iron-jawed men sat down
And said, "Thanks, O God,"
For life and soup and a little less
Than a hobo handout today,
Since gray winds blew gray patterns of sleet on Plymouth Rock,
Since the iron-jawed men sang "Thanks, O God,"
You and I, O Child of the West,
Remember more than ever
November and the hunter's moon,
November and the Yellow-spotted hills.
And so
In the name of the iron-jawed men
I will stand up and say yes till the finish is come and gone.
God of all broken hearts, empty hands, sleeping soldiers,
God of all star-flung beaches of night sky,
I and my love-child stand up together to-day and sing,
"Thanks, O God."
Carl Sandburg
