November 2, 2017
PUBLISHER’S CORNER
By Kari Smith
Give Thanks
November is one of my favorite months. I love the cooler temperatures. I love watching the trees change color. I love spending time with family over the Thanksgiving break. I also love the anticipation of the first snow fall.
The other night as we sat around the kitchen table finishing dinner, we started talking about what we were looking forward to and we all agreed that we are looking forward to Thanksgiving. Later on, I found myself pondering over Thanksgiving. It is kind of incredible to think that President Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, declared a national day of Thanksgiving in November. Yet, Thanksgiving had been celebrated long before starting with pilgrims. In 1623, the Pilgrims had a Thanksgiving celebration to mark the end of a long drought that threated the harvest. Governor Bradford called for a religious fast that year. I must say, I am thankful that my family does not practice the tradition of
fasting on Thanksgiving!
Then during the American Revolution, the Continental Congress designated one or more days of thanksgiving a year. And in 1789, George Washington gave the first Thanksgiving proclamation by the United State government, he called upon Americans to express their gratitude for the conclusion to the war and the ratification of the constitution. Then, in 1817, New York became the first state to official adopt and an annual Thanksgiving holiday. In 1827, the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, Sarah Josepha Hale, launched a campaign for the next 36 years, publishing numerous editorials and letters to many politicians’ to establish a national holiday and finally in 1863 Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving for the last Thursday in November but that is not true anymore. During the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week an attempt to spur retail sales and thus Thanksgiving is now the fourth Thursday in November.
What will you be thankful for during this 2017 Thanksgiving holiday? I know many people that are not having a great year and are carrying many burdens that are clouding their lives but even in the worst of times, we do have so many things to be thankful for. One of my favorite hymn is Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart but it is hard to do. There is conflict and there is hurt but I challenge you during this November to spend the month with a grateful heart. Look for the good in people, lend a helping hand and embrace the ones you love.
