Thanksgiving

I had to share this.

If you don't like it when I start to get controversial, then leave now, because this is about life, love, faith, Thanksgiving, and most of all, God.

If you have been reading this page for a while, then you undoubtedly have come to recognize that I am a Christian, occasional uncharitable thoughts aside, and that I am deeply offended by the repeated attempts of the libatards of this nation to re-write history to deny the obvious Judeo-Christian influence on our nation's law and character. We see this in the attempts to recast our Holidays in ways that either ignore or are hostile to Christianity. Thanksgiving is one of those holidays where it has been difficult for these asshats to accomplish that goal. To have Thanksgiving, you have to be thankful to someone, and that someone is the elephant in the room that the left tries so hard to ignore. A review of the history of the holiday shows just how bankrupt the left's attempts at revision are. Let's start with Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation.

General Thanksgiving
By the PRESIDENT of the United States Of America
A PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establifh a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also, that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions;-- to enable us all, whether in publick or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us); and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

GIVEN under my hand, at the city of New-York, the third day of October, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

(signed) G. Washington

Source: The Massachusetts Centinel, Wednesday, October 14, 1789

Hardly sound like the words of a 'deist', do they? Another revision of history dispelled. But it didn't stop there. Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation really sticks a finger in the eye of those who want us to reject and be ashamed of out history. If you think about it, it really shouldn't surprise you. He gets a complete thumbs up in my book for doing what was necessary to hold this nation together in THE darkest chapter in our history. He himself, a lifelong christian, did not profess himself to truly be a Christian until after the battle of Gettysburg. I don't know how any Commander In Chief could comprehend the true nature of the destruction, and death (60,000 Americans) and not be changed or feel the awful weight of the responsibility that he was charged with. I sometimes think that if he hadn't have been assassinated, he still would have died to somehow be denied a continued life in the Union he was dedicated to restoring, much the same way Moses lead the people of Israel through the desert for 40 years, only to be denied entry into the promised land.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Thinking about this put a different spin on some thoughts that I had already coalesced in the last few days.

This has been both the best and worst year of my life. I started to seriously walk down the road of recovery, and finally came to the point where I could hear God giving me the final piece I needed to take control of my life. Then I was brought face to face with the damage I have done in the my life, and the sorrowful consequences that resulted from that damage. While trying to understand the extent of the damage, I have been given news that raises the question of my own mortality, and while considering the implications of so many things left undone, that I may not have time to fix, more salt was poured into that wound.

If anyone has a reason to be angry, it would be me. And while anger is one of the many emotions I am feeling, it isn't primary. Actually, as much physical and emotional pain I am suffering, I have to say "Praise God!", even through the tears. Because of him, I know what I am feeling. He brought me down this path. If this happened three years ago, I would have just closed in on myself, and been very, very angry. Now, I can realize that there is anger, that there is disappointment, that there is resentment, that there is betrayal, that there is sadness. More importantly, I can consider why I have these feelings, and that is the reason why I am thankful today, this week, this month, RIGHT NOW.

I am thankful for my wife, and the years we shared, even when I shared very little with anyone, including her.

I am thankful for two young men who constantly provide me with joy, and reasons to be proud, even as they frustrate me for the same reasons.

I am thankful for the fact that we have a home, whatever is going on under its roof.

I am thankful we all eat, and have clothes.

I am thankful that God cares enough to restore us to what he intended.

I am thankful to live in a country where I can say that.

I am thankful for whatever is next, because I can feel it, and share it with those who love me.

I am thank for for the family that I was born with, and my chosen family on the sidebar, and at the Rott.