The Season Of Thanksgiving
Deborah Venable
11/25/11
Well,
it’s now the day after “turkey coma Thursday” – typically known as “Black
Friday,” which precedes the rest of “Thanksgiving Weekend” followed by “Cyber
Monday,” a rather new notation loosely tied to Black Friday by that marvelous
new invention of Internet shopping.
Here we are in the middle of the Season Of Thanksgiving. I think that describes the politically
correct, secular view of the season.
Christians
have been admonished not to refer to Thanksgiving as a religious holiday after
all, and the president certainly didn’t choke up his Thanksgiving message with
any mention of God, so I guess that’s that, huh? Schools have done their best to make sure that kids are not
taught to think of Thanksgiving with any sort of religious connotations tied to
it, never mind that the whole idea of Thanksgiving is supposed to be an
expression of our gratitude to Divine Providence, but instead it is just a
prelude to that other well known secular “holiday,” which will occur one month
from now. Kids get out of school, folks
get off work, (if you are lucky enough to have a job or don’t work in retail)
and between now and then we just shop till we drop and eat ourselves silly.
Yup,
t’is the season!
Barack
Obama may say we should all be thankful for our military personnel, but it
doesn’t ring true while he is doing everything in his power to diminish their
efforts and demoralize their traditions.
I can’t peruse the news without seeing stories that are appalling to say
the least and blasphemous in truth – from removing crosses from hero’s burial
sites and foreign battleground churches to undermining the role of military
chaplains. Really? Atheist chaplains? Are you kidding me?
But
I digress.
To
all you young’uns who have been raised in a more and more godless society, and
all you bitter, old, atheistic socialists, let me set the record straight. Thanksgiving IS a religious holiday and so
is Christmas! The Season of
Thanksgiving extends all the way through those two “days off,” and back when
families were more valued than they are now, freedom was more alive than it is
now, and the majority of American citizens were not content to just roll over,
everybody pretty much knew the reason for the season!
When
God is no longer welcome in a society that was built by a firm reliance and
belief in Him, yet open to all other beliefs, it is sad. It has become a dangerous society. There can be no individual justice found
where God’s influence is banished. Take
a look at the school system, the courts, and all the various offices of
government where God is no longer welcome or honored. What do you see? Do you
see more or less satisfaction with these systems espoused among the general
public? Is America a safer place now than
it was just a half century ago? Can you
not truthfully answer these questions?
If
you are not opposed to praying for things you want, you should always remember
to pray in gratitude for all you have.
If you think that God is a fairy tale and religion is a crutch for the
weak, you should remember why you are able to hold those beliefs without fear
of being locked away or worse, then be grateful and shout your thanks to anyone
who will listen. If you do not like it
here in America, you should remember that you are not forced to stay here – you
may leave at any time, for our borders do not shut you in – but if your answer
is to change America to accommodate your own desires, know that one day you may
not have that option to leave. If you
think that too many have so much more than you, and that makes life unfair, you
have no concept of life in reality. If
you measure your own worth only by the success or failure of others, you are
not pursuing happiness, nor will you ever find it.
In
this Season Of Thanksgiving, may we all be thankful instead of bitter,
satisfied instead of greedy, and certain instead of confused about all the
bounty this life in America offers each and every individual. The more it is willingly shared, the more
there will always be – but if it is squandered through coercion or
misdirection, or ignored by selfishness and ingratitude, we can never reclaim
it.