2. the priviledge to vote
3. family
4. morning coffee
5. my husband and best friend
6. sunshine
7. friends
8. my bichon
9. rest
10. nail polish
11. kindness
12. skyping with far away family and friends
13. jamming to music in my car
14. space heaters
15. a warm bed
16. a wonderful mentor
17. joy
18. power tools
19. laughing so hard you don't make a sound
20. switching the alarm clock to "off" on Saturday
21. the word, "Marvelous"
22. Chef Luke
23. having more than just what I need
24. people watching - when noses and cheeks are pink and hands are warmed around steaming cups of ciders and cocoas
25. friends that become like family
I am thankful for all the men and women in this Great Nation's history, who died to secure the freedom that I now enjoy. I am thankful for all those who have lived before me to perpetuated the principles of freedom that grant the patriots of this country such astounding advantages. The freedom to be free. Hmmmm...
"Thank you" to the Good Lord and Creator for the blessings he has poured out over the history of this Great Nation, America.
"Thank you" to those who gave dearly and suffered much at Plymouth Rock so that many of us today could enjoy a life of abundance.
"Thank you" President Abraham Lincoln for, in 1863 delivering the "Thanksgiving Proclamation" establishing this day of remembrance and Thanksgiving as a national holiday:
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 can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful 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 to provoke their aggression, 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 as the iron and coal as of our 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 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 imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
How marvelously moving. How magnificently American. I am just so thankful today. Thank you for reading this blog. I pray that your time spent today is a gift to you and to all those with whom you may see, pass, and interact.
"May the Lord bless you and keep you; may He make His face to shine on you and be gracious to you; may He lift up His countenance (smile) on you and give you peace." - Numbers 6:22-27
Happy Thanksgiving,
Rachel
Text for Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation taken from infoplease.
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