Loren Lippincott
Have you ever given to someone something of value and not received a “thank you” or even an acknowledgment of the gift? How did you feel about that? As Saint Ambrose said, “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks,” but in today’s America, the Land of Plenty, instead of gratitude we see a growing attitude of entitlement.
As we look to the origins of the Thanksgiving holiday in America we see that true thankfulness is forged in the fires of adversity. That was certainly true of those who celebrated that first Thanksgiving in the New World in the year 1621. Escaping the state religion and persecution of the Church of England, a boat load of Puritan pilgrims launched from the shores of Plymouth, England in the summer of 1620.
Their tiny sailing ship, the Mayflower, carried a total of 103 passengers plus about 30 crew members. On board were 69 adults, mostly in their 30s, 14 children between the ages of 13 and 18, and 19 children under the age of 12. Imagine spending more than two months with 100 other people on a ship the size of a large two bedroom apartment with only a bucket for a restroom and no facilities for bathing. The trip itself was brutal and one of the passengers died on board, leaving 102.
Traveling at an average speed of only two mph, 66 days after leaving England, the Mayflower landed on the shores of Massachusetts on November 11, but the travails of the Pilgrims were far from over. After a brutally harsh winter and a disease (leptospirosis transmitted by rats they brought with them on the Mayflower) only 53 of the 102 remained in the spring of 1621.
Things began to look up that next spring, however, when help came from those already living here. The Wampanoag tribesmen helped the surviving Pilgrims by assisting them with food and shelter for their very survival. Grateful for God’s provision during that terrible first year in New England, in the fall of 1621 the Pilgrims, accompanied by 90 tribesmen, celebrated with three days of feasting, games and singing. They sincerely thanked God for their survival, thanks in large part to their new friends.
Of the surviving 53 Pilgrims, 51 had children. Today over 35 million Americans, including nine U.S. presidents are descendants of these Pilgrims. You may be one of their descendants too!
Shortly after George Washington became our first president, he set aside Nov. 26, 1789 as a national day of thanksgiving, prayer and fasting to recognize the role of Providence in the creation of the new United States and the Federal Constitution. (Today, however, we mostly do not put “thanksgiving” and “fasting” in the same sentence!) In the most dire hour of our nation’s history, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that the last Thursday in November 1863 be set aside as a day of prayer, humiliation and thanksgiving in the midst of our Civil War.
Following the Great Depression and one month prior to America’s entry into WWII, President Franklin Roosevelt made the fourth Thursday of November a national holiday to thank God for our founding and freedom.
As we review from where we have come and where we see ourselves going, an observation made by G. Michael Hopf is fitting: “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men and weak men create hard times.” Within our own nation’s history we have seen this cycle repeated over and over and it was never more evident than it is today.
The Apostle Paul, who certainly had his trials, wrote to the church of Philippi as a prisoner in Rome where he was chained to a Roman soldier 24/7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:6-7) May your Thanksgiving Holiday be filled with gratitude to God for the many blessings we enjoy in our great state and nation!
Loren Lippincott represents Legislative District 34 in the Nebraska State Senate. Read his column in the Nance County Journal.