The Weakly Post
The Soul of Thanksgiving
“For what shall it profit a man, if
he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give
in exchange for his soul? “ Mark
8:35-36
The year was 1863. Abraham Lincoln was President. Strife
ruled. The nation was at war with itself. The landscape by any visionary’s
account 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 urgently 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 coalesce a nation of diverse cultures and
individuals into a cohesive whole by remembering the origin of its birth. This
year Americans will celebrate the 151st anniversary of Thanksgiving.
In 1620 pilgrims departed from
Defts-Haven, searching for a new land with an ephemeral idea of freedom. They
had no idea what they would face in the 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
harsh winter stood a land with a weather-beaten face. It appeared to them a
country full of woods and thickets, a place full of multitudes of untamed
beasts and wild men. It had an ominous and savage hew. Such is the nature of
the unknown…wild, fearful but 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. 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.
We who read this today are
benefitting 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 the news if you don’t believe this!
Yesterday we sat in a Methodist
Church in the small town of my youth. We gathered there to say a final goodbye
to a family member. My nephew, Preston, recalled the influence she had upon his
life. He synthesized it based on his annual visits for Thanksgiving. He
recalled pulling into the driveway of his grandmother’s home. The first thing
he saw was her face in the kitchen window, welcoming him with a smile.
The soul of an American Thanksgiving
has a face. It’s seen in the Rockwell-blended faces of families, merged
together into a national tapestry. Each face represents a precious memory, of a
home and a secure place where families can thrive.
The blessings of national unity are
too broad to enumerate. But the collective voice of Thanksgiving blends them
together at every table where food is served, laughter is heard and love is
shared. The soul of being American is once again revived on this memorable day.
Today, the world is a dangerous
place. It’s fractious, filled with secular pursuits, religious divisions and
seethes with national rivalries. Our country has its own fractured diversity,
revealed by recent events in Missouri that have prompted protests nationwide.
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 fact is what Thanksgiving is all about.
**********
Today
here began bleak and dreary, consequences of the passing storms. In the front
yard a squirrel sat on its hind quarters, gnawing on acorns. It seemed to smile
as it feasted on the prodigious crop furnished by the oak trees.
America has endured many storms. It
will weather more. But, like the squirrel, we can take
comfort in the fact that a gracious Almighty God desires to furnish us with
untold blessings. Our collective soul will continue to flourish as long as we
remember the Source of these blessings.
Thank you, Abraham Lincoln, for the
gift of this holiday. Thank you, God, for blessing the soul of America. Happy
Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Bud Hearn
November 26, 2014
Sketches courtesy of Leslie Hearn
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