A Thanksgiving Proclamation

A Thanksgiving Proclamation from our nation's President...

"The year that is drawing toward 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 the heart which is habitually insensible to the everwatchful 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 provoke their aggressions, 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 theater of military conflict; while that theater 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 defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax 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 battlefield, 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."

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As you are no doubt aware by now, if you've read this far, this is not a proclamation from one of our nation's recent presidents. It's President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation from October 3, 1863. But it's astounding how appropriate Lincoln's words are for today. And yet how foreign they sound in relation to our leaders acknowledging God our Creator. 

When is the last time you heard our President or a member of Congress publicly acknowledge God in this way? Much less acknowledge our sinfulness and dependence upon God? I don't know your political party affiliation and honestly, that's not what's important. What's important is that we're all seeking God's wisdom and will and direction for this nation and its leaders. As well as for other nations and world leaders.

When's the last time I've prayed for President Obama and his family? For Congress? For my governor? For the mayor and other leaders in my community? I think about these various officials on occasion (some more than others), but I don't get on my knees on their behalf near enough.

I'm grateful to live in the United States of America. A nation in which people are dying to get into, and a nation for which others are dying to protect. Would you join me this week and read through this proclamation again with a heart of prayer as we lift up our leaders to the Lord? I'll be right beside you on my knees.

And lest I wax too serious on this Tuesday, let me share a fabulous recipe for Pumpkin Bread! Love this stuff, and it's so easy. It's a "one bowl bread." Just throw everything in and stir. My house smells so good! Grab the recipe here.

Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving,

Tammy

Read more about the history of this proclamation.