Americans commit suicide with a fork each year than any other weapon

In just a few days we're going to celebrate my favorite holiday - Thanksgiving. It's my favorite for several reasons, not the least of which is the indulging (probably "overindulging") in a great repast. We in the Covey household stick pretty close to the traditional fare, you know what I mean, turkey with dressing and giblet gravy, several vegetable dishes and, of course, candied yams and pumpkin pie. Being diabetic, I can't enjoy the yams anymore, but I'm thankful that God has provided us with artificial sweeteners and I can stuff myself with "punkin' pie."

I've mentioned this before and I'll again remind you of something once said by a pretty astute wag who said that "more Americans commit suicide with a fork each year than any other weapon." For about 2 hours after dinner next Thursday I'll have a full understanding of what he meant.

Another reason that I prefer the Thanksgiving holiday over all the others is, that it's the holiday that seems to direct our thoughts towards gratitude. Towards being grateful for all that we've been blessed with. I'm reminded of something Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:1 about a "season and a time for every purpose under heaven" and that causes me to think about the appropriateness of this "season."

Thanksgiving comes in the fall of the year and isn't that the most appropriate time for us to set aside a day to be thankful for the bounty in our lives? Fall of the year is when we have "harvest time." The time, or the season, where we realize all of the benefits of the sowing and the nurturing throughout the earlier seasons of the year. The Bible speaks of things happening in "due season" and that phrase is so appropriate to what we're talking about here. It just seems to be the "season" in which we have the visual evidence of how blessed we've been.

With our minds directed towards our "blessings" it's then only natural that we express our gratitude to our benefactor - God, as we sing in the word of the old hymn "from whom all blessings flow." When you think about atheists celebrating Thanksgiving don't you wonder "Who do they thank?"

I know that this holiday of Thanksgiving is unique to America, but actually it did not originate with us. If you read in the book of Nehemiah, chapter 12, you'll see where, after the completion of the building of the wall around Jerusalem, Israel appointed a day of "gladness" and "thanksgiving" for the blessing of being back in their homeland and being safe from their enemies. You'll also see in that chapter that it was a day "of great joy" and that everyone "rejoiced." That they did as David of old had done by offering "songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God."

Would you agree with me that they were filled with "gratitude" and that this is what motivated them to be "thankful to God?" If you check the Greek and the Hebrew definitions for "thanksgiving" you'll find that they mean having "gratitude," of being grateful, or of "giving thanks." And the key thought there is to Whom we direct our gratitude. To Whom we offer praise and thanks.

One of the things that bothers me about this holiday is that I think it may cause us to have the tendency to only be grateful and thankful just at this season when we should be that way all year round. We should not cease to be mindful of all that we've been blessed with. Oh yes, we've all had hardships and sufferings of some nature, but in reality we've been blessed to a far greater extent than we've suffered.

I guess that one of the things that sort of "gets my goat" is how ungrateful people can be at times. Ingratitude is one of the things about human beings that really bothers me and when I think about how I relate to it, I can really understand how God must feel when we forget or neglect to thank Him for all He's done for us. If I feel slighted when someone shows no gratitude towards me for something I may have done for them, how much more must He feel slighted when men "count the blood of His Covenant" as "unholy." Who are ungrateful for the greatest blessing of all.

I know that I need to make a greater effort to be mindful all year of how richly God has blessed me and to acknowledge to God that I am grateful. That I am thankful and not just one day a year. I'm going to close this lesson today by citing to you a prayer that was once offered by an old Scottish preacher by the name of John Baillie. I think it very fitting to what we've considered today.

        "I thank Thee, O Lord God, that though with liberal hand Thou

         has at all times showered thy blessing upon our human kind,

         yet in Jesus Christ Thou hast done greater things for us than

         Thou ever didst before:

                    Making home sweeter and friends dearer;

                    Turning sorrow into gladness and pain into the soul's victory;

                    Robbing death of its sting;

                    Robbing sin of its power;

                    Making peace more peaceful and joy more joyful

                    and faith and hope more secure.

                                                                    In Jesus' name, Amen."

Ron Covey