Philippines may not be celebrating Thanksgiving but just wanted to share my thoughts on thanksgiving. Actually, this will be my promotional talk this coming saturday in our church.
What is Thanksgiving? According to Wikipedia, it is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and of the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historic roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well. Even though here in the Philippines, we don't have a national holiday for Thanksgiving, we still can celebrate it in our own way and even everyday.
Do you know how the official national Thanksgiving Day came about? It's of Sara J. Hale, the editor of the popular women's magazine Godey's Lady's Book wrote a Thanksgiving Day editorial in the September 1863 issue of her magazine. Up until that time, there had been no official National Thanksgiving Day. Her thoughts on being thankful revolved around Nehemiah 8:10 that says "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." When the issue came off the press, she sent a copy to President Lincoln. At that time President Lincoln had bigger worries than establishing a day on which to be thankful. The country was in the middle of the Civil War. The union armies had lost battles to the confederates on many fronts. Many of his generals were worried more about the cut of their uniforms than about the young men dying under their commands. Newspaper blasted the president, no matter what he did or didn't do. Some members of the cabinet made fun of him, called him names behind his back. The presidency of the United States of America seemed to be on the verge of crumbling. Along with the country itself- not exactly the time to give thanks! President Lincoln read Mrs. Hale's editorial. And despite his political and personal troubles, on October 3, 1863, he declared the last Thursday of every November to be a nationa Thanksgiving Day.
Saying Thank you is so easy. Those two words can make all the different in another person's entire day. Maybe you remember saying thank you to your mom and dad for clean clothes, good food and just for being there when you need them. Maybe you tell the pastor thank you for a sermon well done or to a stranger whom have shown you simple act of kindness or maybe to a man who opened a door for you and the list can go on and on.. But are there people to whom you may not said thank you but whom you really appreciate for their good example, for their faithfullness, for the time and effort they give to make your life a little more comfortable- such as our deacons who arrive at church half hour early to be certain that the sanctuary is clean and is ready for worship, or to the Sabbath School teachers who study our lessons deeply for us to understand more during the discussion, or to the janitor who picks up all the messes we left after the church's services? All these people serve God just as much as the pastor who delivers the sermon or the musician who sings on the Sabbath morning.
Saying thank you is important. It helps us remember that the gifts God gives are just that - GIFTS. They aren't something we earn or even deserves, but come from the divine heart of love. We can never say thank you to God or to the one we love, often enough.
In Psalm 92:1 it says: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Being thankful is a choice, not a chance. That means, no matter what else is happening in our lives, we can choose to be thankful and discover that when we are thankful, we are happy. Therefore, we can choose to be happy by being thankful.
Make sence right?
Just like what President Lincoln did, He didn't wait until the end of the war to be thankfuk. He declared his gratitude and praise at a time when it seemed he had the least for which to be thankful. The message in Nehemiah 8:10 is just that- the joy of giving thanks to the Lord is your strength. It's easy to say thank you when everything is terrific, but when things go bad, the true joy of thankfulness gives strength - "the joy of the Lord is our strength."
"O give thanks to the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever."
-Psalm 136:1
Being thankful is a good habit to develop. So, let us all be thankful to the Lord not only for the blessings but also for the trials and tribulations that come our way.
Let us all say thank you to the people around us whom we know deserved our sinceremost thank you..
A simply thank you note will go a long way.. and include it with a smile ofcourse.
As for me, I humbly wanna THANK my 700+ people who view my blog for the past seven months... Thank you very much!!
Xx, Ypai
What is Thanksgiving? According to Wikipedia, it is a national holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Several other places around the world observe similar celebrations. It is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and of the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving has its historic roots in religious and cultural traditions, and has long been celebrated in a secular manner as well. Even though here in the Philippines, we don't have a national holiday for Thanksgiving, we still can celebrate it in our own way and even everyday.
Do you know how the official national Thanksgiving Day came about? It's of Sara J. Hale, the editor of the popular women's magazine Godey's Lady's Book wrote a Thanksgiving Day editorial in the September 1863 issue of her magazine. Up until that time, there had been no official National Thanksgiving Day. Her thoughts on being thankful revolved around Nehemiah 8:10 that says "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." When the issue came off the press, she sent a copy to President Lincoln. At that time President Lincoln had bigger worries than establishing a day on which to be thankful. The country was in the middle of the Civil War. The union armies had lost battles to the confederates on many fronts. Many of his generals were worried more about the cut of their uniforms than about the young men dying under their commands. Newspaper blasted the president, no matter what he did or didn't do. Some members of the cabinet made fun of him, called him names behind his back. The presidency of the United States of America seemed to be on the verge of crumbling. Along with the country itself- not exactly the time to give thanks! President Lincoln read Mrs. Hale's editorial. And despite his political and personal troubles, on October 3, 1863, he declared the last Thursday of every November to be a nationa Thanksgiving Day.
Saying Thank you is so easy. Those two words can make all the different in another person's entire day. Maybe you remember saying thank you to your mom and dad for clean clothes, good food and just for being there when you need them. Maybe you tell the pastor thank you for a sermon well done or to a stranger whom have shown you simple act of kindness or maybe to a man who opened a door for you and the list can go on and on.. But are there people to whom you may not said thank you but whom you really appreciate for their good example, for their faithfullness, for the time and effort they give to make your life a little more comfortable- such as our deacons who arrive at church half hour early to be certain that the sanctuary is clean and is ready for worship, or to the Sabbath School teachers who study our lessons deeply for us to understand more during the discussion, or to the janitor who picks up all the messes we left after the church's services? All these people serve God just as much as the pastor who delivers the sermon or the musician who sings on the Sabbath morning.
Saying thank you is important. It helps us remember that the gifts God gives are just that - GIFTS. They aren't something we earn or even deserves, but come from the divine heart of love. We can never say thank you to God or to the one we love, often enough.
In Psalm 92:1 it says: "It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Being thankful is a choice, not a chance. That means, no matter what else is happening in our lives, we can choose to be thankful and discover that when we are thankful, we are happy. Therefore, we can choose to be happy by being thankful.
Make sence right?
Just like what President Lincoln did, He didn't wait until the end of the war to be thankfuk. He declared his gratitude and praise at a time when it seemed he had the least for which to be thankful. The message in Nehemiah 8:10 is just that- the joy of giving thanks to the Lord is your strength. It's easy to say thank you when everything is terrific, but when things go bad, the true joy of thankfulness gives strength - "the joy of the Lord is our strength."
"O give thanks to the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever."
-Psalm 136:1
Being thankful is a good habit to develop. So, let us all be thankful to the Lord not only for the blessings but also for the trials and tribulations that come our way.
Let us all say thank you to the people around us whom we know deserved our sinceremost thank you..
A simply thank you note will go a long way.. and include it with a smile ofcourse.
As for me, I humbly wanna THANK my 700+ people who view my blog for the past seven months... Thank you very much!!
Xx, Ypai
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