Thank you Father!!

Have you ever noticed that when Fall hits everyone begins to think about the holidays.

1. What to get the kids for Halloween.
2. What will you wear for trick or treat night.
3. What kind of candy and decorations will you have.

Then we go right into Christmas. Not the really true Christmas but the totally commercial Christmas. People are scurrying around trying to find the best present for each other and see who can outdo the other decorating their homes with lights and blow up decorations. We hunt for Santa Clause and all of his reindeer, we look for Frosty and the Grinch. We start partying and celebrating long before Christmas ever gets here.

Did you ever notice when you go into Walmart that Christmas comes out around September. Even the music is Christmas. We plow on full speed ahead and never stop to think that just maybe we ought to take time out to thank God for our Spiritual freedom that we have in Christ.

You don't see any big advertisements for Thanksgiving. You may find some table decorations for your dinner, but no thanksgiving music. No signs anywhere announcing this holiday. Some people even take away the name "Thanksgiving" and call it "Turkey Day" or whatever disrespectful name they can think of. Do you know why this is?

It's because we have become a thankless nation unless a crisis happens. Let the Twin Towers Fall, or Hurricane Katrina come and tare up New Orleans. Let a plane fall out of the sky with hundreds of people on board, or let a bomb go off in Washington. Then we begin to be thankful.

Shame on us!! We live in America where we are FREE to worship whatever God we choose, FREE to walk our streets without fear, FREE to go to Sunday School with out persecution, FREE to pick the education we think best for our children.

All because some pilgrims who wanted the freedom to serve God as they chose, were brave enough to leave a country that forbid it and make their way across the water to a land where they could be FREE. They suffered all kinds of sickness and death on the treacherous journey and then fought the elements of a strange land when they arrived on these shores. They met strangers they had never seen before who gave them instruction and encouragement to make it through that first horrible year.

Because of their thankfulness for freedom to serve God, they set aside a week for Thanksgiving. Not just a day. They celebrated with "everyone" not just the people they thought were popular or stylish. The were so thankful to be FREE that they were willing to take the time to be thankful.

Now you may think that I do not like the other holidays but your WRONG!! I love all of the holidays that celebrate our country and the freedom we all share. I just have a real problem when Thanksgiving is forgotten.

Please take time out this next week to be Thankful for the FREEDOM we have. Don't wait until Thanksgiving Day to show a thankful spirit. Start today. We are so privileged!! Let's show God and our Country that WE ARE THANKFUL!!

God bless you.

FOR FLOWERS THAT BLOOM ABOUT OUR FEET, FOR TENDER GRASS, SO FRESH, SO SWEET,
FOR SONG OF BIRD, AND HUM OF BEE, FOR ALL THINGS FAIR WE HEAR OR SEE,
FATHER IN HEAVEN, WE THANK THEE.

Ralph Waldo Emerson