Thanksgiving 2009

This is the season in which many reflect on what they are thankful for. It was sobering to read many Thanksgiving articles embracing ones "problems" and giving thanks for all things. One such article is What I'm Thankful for this Year & Every Year: Give Thanks in All Things by Elizabeth Valentine.

For an American story read 2009: Giving Thanks at the End of a Tough Year by Mike Hatz. For more inspiring and touching articles read God Bless You America: The U.S. Military is Singing Your Song by Linda Louise Johnson, December 7th: Pearl Harbor Day, a personal reflection by Abby Greenhill and The Unknown Soldier on Veterans Day by Lori Lane.

Before I continue, I must pause and give thanks for the men & women past and present that have sacrificed and are continuing to sacrifice for our Freedom. Thanks to our troops, I am Free to post this.

One such American that volunteered her service for us is Marie Anne St. Jean. You can read Marie Anne's thoughts in the article, Retired Marine Reflects on Veterans Day. For another slice of Americana, which includes satire to football do not miss the content of Nancy V. Canfield and Randy Inman.

More inspiration can be found in the poetry of Robert O. Adair, Deonils, and Janet Hunt. This is certainly not an exhaustive list and for the sake of brevity I will end with the article 41 Things I'm Thankful For by Donald Pennington.

Embracing or rather accepting ones problems resonates very well with me. A little more than a year-ago, in addition to scrambling to capture the American dream, I lost three very close family members to cancer and its related ailments. Devastating loss, financial or otherwise, has the power to rock ones faith and/or emotional well-being.

As I think of my loved ones I thank God for the time I was able to spend with them and comfort is attained in knowing that we may meet again with no suffering in our everlasting future. I no longer look upward with angry eyes.

My hope is not in this earthly kingdom but of a superior one and it is my faith that provides certainty during these uncertain times.

It is with these thoughts that I continue being thankful for God, Country and Family. That may sound like a cliché or the frequency of such a phrase may inspire boredom, but it is those sound concepts that provide unconditional love, Freedom and everlasting life.

Among my many blessings, I am grateful that I am American; I say this with pride and no apologies. America provides the Freedom to enjoy our family, to rebuild from our losses and to worship if so desired. Freedom is ours to abuse and to lose, not by the standards in which America was born but only by the recklessness of her people.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."- Abraham Lincoln

On December 4, 1619, a group of 38 English settlers arrived at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia. The group's charter required that the day of arrival be observed yearly as a "day of thanksgiving."

On that first day, Captain John Woodleaf held the service of thanksgiving. Here is the section of the Charter of Berkeley Hundred, which specifies the thanksgiving service:

"Wee ordaine that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned for plantacon in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually keept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God."

From my family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

Source:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/456060/thanksgiving.html?cat=9