Good morning. This is a devotional for single adults from Parenting Solo, but the message also applies to single adults without children who may one day marry a single parent and be a step-parent. Feel Free to forward it to a friend.
Note: I will be taking off tomorrow and Friday to be with my family. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Doug Mead, Parenting Solo
Scripture: Psalm 107:1 (The Message) Oh, thank God – he’s so good! His love never runs out.
“Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.
“Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.”
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William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony
The Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Mass., in December 1620 after being blown off course from their original destination of the Virginia Colony. The Mayflower planted 102 English travelers, mostly Pilgrims who left England because of religious persecution.
Nearly three years later, half the original group of Pilgrims had died, yet Bradford felt it was important to gather everyone together and celebrate. Bradford was thankful for the bountiful harvest of vegetables and an abundance of nearby game and fish.
Fast forward to 2008. Our economy is reeling, unemployment is continues to rise, we have a new presidential administration offering up “change,” soldiers are still in Afghanistan and Iraq. Fear and indifference grip our nation. What shall we do? Do as William Bradford did, and focus on the positive. Let us really give thanks tomorrow, the way the original Pilgrims did, who invited the native Americans over to join the celebration. Bradford gave thanks first to his maker, then gave to his neighbors. We should follow that simple premise tomorrow and every day after. We aren’t celebrating Thankstaking Day.
This year, I choose to give thanks and not wallow in self-pity for what I don’t have. I am thankful that I married a wonderful woman 18 months ago, I have a job that is challenging, I have a home (though it is small), I have good relationships with my son and step-son, I am debt-free for the first time in years, I have good health (after disc surgery and chronic back pain for more than 20 years), I am getting good grades in my return to school to acquire an education degree (two B’s this semester), and the golf team I coach at Berean is on the rise and may win a few prizes this year. I have much to be thankful for.
How does this apply to my life?
Today’s prayer: Lord, thank you for giving me an abundant life. You have blessed me richly. Amen
Doug Mead
Parenting Solo
Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Vol. 3, No. 163
This week’s reading plan can be found at http:/www.oneyearbibleonline.com/november.asp?version=51
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