Truth Inspires

The Thanksgiving season is a blessed time for family gatherings, the carving of the turkey, and many other fun life building events. It is truly a time for us to pause and reflect upon the things that we are most thankful for. But, as is always the case, there are those who refuse to be thankful as they continue to live in cynicism toward the day and the blessings of others. Like the Christmas “Scrooge” they have become the thanksgiving “deluge” doing their best to rain on the parade of others! Well, I too can think of a multitude of things that I am not thankful for, but only if I wish to look at them as not having any reason or purpose. For instance: How can I be thankful for the cancer that takes a young mother from her adoring children? How can I be thankful for the children left behind who suffer a pain beyond all understanding as they spill forth rivers of tears? How can I be thankful for the orphans who wonder if there really is love in life? What about the homeless who

November should always be an exciting month. In America, we celebrate a day of Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of the month. Wikipedia states the following: The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Jennie A. Brownscombe. (1914) Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has officially been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863, when during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday, November 26. ...The event that Americans commonly call the "First Thanksgiving" was celebrated to give thanks to God for guiding them safely to the New World. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days, providing enough food for 13 Pilgrims and 90 Native Americans. The feast consisted of fish (cod, eels, and bass) and shellfish (clams, lobster, and mussels), wild fowl (ducks, geese, swans, and turkey), venison, berries and fruit, vegetables (peas, pumpkin, beetroot and

Christmas Prayer Chain Although the idea is not new, why not do something inventive during these upcoming holidays? Why not take some time to create a "Prayer Chain" while at the same time teaching your children about prayer? My wife and I were speaking of this just last week after she made mention of it. It is a great way to count down the Advent season or just list those people and things you are thankful for during the Thanksgiving holiday! I am unaware of any, at least in America, who have never seen or even made a Christmas chain before. But in case that is you, here is how: 1) Gather some colored construction paper. For Christmas, Red and Green are popular colors. For Thanksgiving, Yellow, Orange, and Brown seem to be popular. 2) Cut the construction paper in to 3/4 to 1 " strips of equal length. 3) On each strip write down a prayer request. This could be a person, family, place, thing, or situation. Alternatively you could write what you are thankful