Why We Celebrate Thanksgiving Day!

The Dallas Cowboys. Turkey. Stuffing. The busiest travel day of the year. Parades. Grandma’s house. Cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie. All of these listed and more have become synonymous with Thanksgiving. However, Thanksgiving did not start with the idea that we can watch parades, football or prepare for the Christmas shopping the next day. Thanksgiving started because of the generosity of the pilgrim’s neighbors.

The story is told that the first Thanksgiving Day was in 1621 when the Native Americans had a great farming season and the pilgrims were running out of food. The Native Americans had compassion on the pilgrims, so they invited them to a great feast. In this great feast they ate turkey, pumpkin, cranberries, corn, and other foods. The great feast was about sharing the blessings they had received and preventing their neighbors from starving.

In the late 1700's, George Washington declared that the third Thursday of November would be Thanksgiving; a day to celebrate the generosity that the pilgrims had received from the Native Americans. However, Thanksgiving started taking on a new meaning when in 1939, President Roosevelt set Thanksgiving Day one week earlier so that merchants could have a longer shopping season before Christmas. Trying to get back to the real reason of Thanksgiving, Congress ruled in 1941 that Thanksgiving would be the 4th Thursday in November and become a Federal holiday proclaimed by the President each year.

We all have our reasons why we celebrate Thanksgiving Day. To the Native Americans, it was about being thankful for the abundance of the crops and generosity. For the Christian, it can be about not only being generous with the blessings we have received from God, but also about how we can demonstrate our thankfulness. I suggest three ways to demonstrate your thankfulness this year:

#1. By singing: Psalm 147:7 says "Sing out your thanks to Him, sing praises to God." Nothing makes you more aware of God's presence faster than praising God.

#2. By serving: The Bible says to: “Serve the Lord with gladness.” When we serve, it puts God on display for others to see how wonderful, gentle, and caring He is

#3. By sharing: Sharing the gospel shows our gratefulness toward God for what He has done in our lives. Isaiah 12:4 says, Thank the LORD! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done….”

This year, find ways to be generous and at the same time, demonstrate your thankfulness for what God has done in your life!

Remember, Be God Controlled!

Brian