SLR 083: Giving Thanks!

Simple Life Reboot - Transformational / Healthy / Minimalism / Lifestyle / Edit

Giving Grandma a hug at graduation

“There is one day that is ours. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American.” – O. Henry

I give thanks to God and Country, for without God, I would have no life, and without America, I would have no liberty.

I GIVE THANKS

…to AMERICA

Consider for a moment the absence of America from the world. How thankful I am for a nation that secures our liberty. The idea that a human being should be left alone by its government to live his or her life is not an unreasonable expectation, but it is a condition that is less common in the world than it should be.

“Thanksgiving, our eminent moral holiday, doesn’t have much for children. At its heart are conversation, food, drink, and fellowship – all perks of adulthood.” – Rosecrans Baldwin

…to OUR MILITARY VETERANS

I also give thanks for America’s Veterans, who serve honorably every day to protect us, our nation and its sovereignty, its sacred honor, its right to exist peaceably. Without the daily commitment and sacrifice by our Veterans, our nation would not long endure.

…and to GOD

And consider for a moment the absence of God from our lives, from the world, and you realize the utter darkness within which all suffering in this life would endure.

* * *
On September 28, 1863, a 74-year old magazine editor, Sarah Josepha Hale, wrote a letter to President Abraham Lincoln, urging him to have the “day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival.”

Shortly thereafter, on October 3rd, 1863, the President declared a Proclamation of Thanksgiving, a small portion of which reads as follows:

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.

Originally posted on http://SimpleLifeReboot.com