11.20.24
Giving Thanks, part one
America’s Thanksgiving tradition is a time to focus on God and His blessings on us and on our nation. In a year that has provided America with some hardships especially for our farmers, perhaps it is even more important to focus on God this Thanksgiving and on the good things He has provided in the midst of our difficulties. It is also a year to focus even more on our neighbors and fellow citizens who are hurting, to provide a good Thanksgiving for them as well.
Our Pilgrim forebears faced difficult times in the year before their first Thanksgiving in America. Nevertheless, they found reasons to praise God for their survival in a brutal wilderness.
The original Pilgrims fled to Holland in 1608 and then to America in 1620 because they were suffering persecution and imprisonment in England for their Biblical faith. Their stay in Holland was short because, although they found spiritual liberty there, a disjointed economy failed to provide adequate compensation for their labors, and a degraded and corrupt culture was tempting their children to stray from the faith.
Determined to protect their families from these spiritual and cultural dangers, the Pilgrims uprooted their community and sailed for a New World in America that offered the promise of both civil and religious liberty. Despite the hardships they encountered in these wanderings, the Pilgrims considered themselves to be “stepping stones” for future generations, whether they lived or died. Their focus was on the future and on faithfulness to God. They trusted God to sustain them in good years and bad.
The Pilgrims set sail for America on September 6, 1620, and for two months braved the harsh elements of a storm-tossed sea. Upon disembarking at Plymouth Rock, they held a prayer service and then hastily began building shelters. Nearly half of the Pilgrims who had so joyously disembarked from the Mayflower died before spring after facing an unusually harsh New England winter.
Imagine their joy and surprise after that first grueling winter, when an Indian named Samoset approached their depleted colony and greeted them in their own language. He explained to them that he had learned English from fishermen and traders.
A week later, Samoset returned to the Pilgrim colony with another English-speaking friend named Squanto. Squanto lived with the Pilgrims, accepted Jesus as his Savior, and taught them how to live in the New World. Squanto and Samoset helped forge a 50-year-long peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians. Pilgrim Governor William Bradford described Squanto as “a special instrument sent of God for our good ,who never left us till he died.”
That summer, the Pilgrims, persevering in prayer and assisted by their new Indian friends, reaped a bountiful fall harvest. Pilgrim Edward Winslow expressed the colony’s thanks. “God be praised, we had a good increase of corn,” he said, and “by the goodness of God, we are far from want.”
This information is from the Christian Law Association, Seminole, FLand is used by permission. We will continue with part two next week