True Thanksgivingd

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Dear America

Every year millions of your citizens take part in a day dedicated to acknowledging the great blessings that have been bestowed upon them. It is a celebration unique in both form and purpose. For many it is a time for family and friends to come together in love and devotion. It is a time to rejoice and a time to give thanks to the One who made it all possible.

Although other countries have similar holidays, there has never been a people in history that owes their Creator a greater debt of gratitude than those who bare your name. Americans are hands-down the beneficiaries of the most extraordinary gifts ever bestowed upon one people.

But what have we done with these gifts, and how have we expressed our appreciation for these blessings? Today, Thanksgiving has become more about indulgence and excess than about genuine, heartfelt gratitude. Perhaps this is because these moral defects have become such a great part of American life. Today we worship the god of convenience and pleasure, not the God of moral purity. We seek out what makes us FEEL good, not what MAKES us good. And what have we gotten for it? Are we a better country because we can't tell the difference between freedom of speech and pornography? Has religious freedom somehow been strengthened by laws that make prayer in our schools a crime?

What does it say about the thankfulness a nation has when snuffing out the life of an unborn child is actually defended as a sacred right? What does it say about the thankfulness a nation has when its legislators proudly defend sodomy as the moral equivalent of one husband and one wife? And just how thankful to God can a nation really be, when at every turn, it removes Him from public life -- in the name of freedom, no less.

Today our moral and ethical compass is built on the principal of "ME FIRST," and our obsession with "self" consumes our daily lives. In that world God is only allowed to make a guest appearance.

The original intent of Thanksgiving was truly noble and it still can be. Sadly this day has been threatened by our own arrogance. While we may offer up a quick prayer before "digging in," we conduct our lives as though God didn't exist. Perhaps Abraham Lincoln said it best.

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own."

A Final Thought

When colonists first settled in this land, the days were hard but the future held a great hope. Today we seem to have everything, but our future looks so uncertain. Why does it have to be this way? Is it possible that the courageous men and women who built this nation truly depended on God Almighty to preserve them. It would certainly seem so. God was so real to them. He was spoken of with pride and confidence and most of all respect. Today we profane His name, mock His word, and dismiss His authority.

Finally, it would seem to us that the wealthiest nation in history would be better served on its knees before God in humble supplication and reflection. Furthermore, if it is truly thankful it should declare its gratitude by obedience and not just words.

Respectfully,

Blow the Trumpet