Recalling Our Blessings

In November, we celebrate the public holiday of Thanksgiving. This day was set aside by our nation’s founders that we might give thanks to God for all the blessings He has bestowed on our country, and on us personally. These blessings are both spiritual and material. Unfortunately, it’s easy to take these blessings for granted, so it behooves us to recall them and appreciate them, and express our gratitude to almighty God.

A few years ago, in the southeastern Minnesota town of Lanesboro, I met two Amish women, with a horse and buggy behind them, who were selling fresh produce and canned goods. “How far away is your farm” I asked. “About eleven miles,” one replied. “How long does it take to get here?” “About an hour and a half” she responded. In other words, it took them three hours to make a 22 mile round trip.

Before cars, our ancestors traveled by horse. In the mid 1800’s, those who wanted to travel from Independence, Missouri, to San Francisco, a distance of 1827 miles, often traveled via wagon train on prairie schooners pulled by oxen or mules. These wagon trains averaged about 15 miles per day. This would require about 120 overnight stops, meaning if you departed on May 15, you might arrive around September 15. Now that same trip would take about 27 hours by car, and about 4 by plane. Imagine going on a journey now, which would entail traveling 15 miles/day, with 120 overnight stops!

Consider other conveniences since that time: hot water out of a faucet, indoor bathrooms, electricity, refrigeration, indoor heat and cooling controlled by thermostat, the availability of perishable foods from around the world, etc. In many parts of the world these conveniences are not commonly available. We are so blessed!

Then there is the blessing of living in a country that is, relatively speaking, at peace, free, and prosperous. Monsignor Matthew Odong, from Uganda, who is on our board of advisors, has told us of how, from about 1987-2006, his seminary in the city of Gulu was attacked by militants who would kill, abduct and enslave his students. More recently, he told us that at his seminary and secondary boarding school, the students have meat once a week, while in America he often has meat more than once a day.

We recently aired a program featuring Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somali whose family fled Somalia because of war. Initially, her parents sought asylum in Saudi Arabia, but Saudi Arabia deported them. From there she went to Kenya, then Germany, then Holland and then, the USA. She is grateful to live in the United States, and attributes its relative peace and freedom to the “creed” that underlies it. What is that “creed”? We might look to the The First National Thanksgiving proclamation, written by Samuel Adams, and adopted by the Continental Congress on November 1, 1777:

Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to Him for benefits received… It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive powers of these United States, to set apart Thursday, the 18th day of December next, for Solemn Thanksgiving and Praise; that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor; and that together with their sincere acknowledgments and offerings, they may join the penitent confession of their manifold sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor, and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance; that it may please Him graciously… to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety, under His nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth “IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE AND JOY IN THE HOLY GHOST.”

At present, we still have more religious liberty in the United States than they have in many other countries. Thank God for this! To quote G.K Chesterton, “When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted, or take them with gratitude. I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. The worst moment for an atheist is when he is really thankful and has no one to thank.”

Happy Thanksgiving!