{"id":824,"date":"2011-11-23T13:38:40","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T13:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/?p=824"},"modified":"2011-11-23T13:38:40","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T13:38:40","slug":"thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"Thanskgiving: In tough times, it’s all about perspective, and faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Thanksgiving: Perspective<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Far more than a chance to gorge on turkey, stuffing, yams, pies, hams and mashed potatoes and gravy, Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, and the gift of perspective.<\/p>\n

We tend to look to the so-called \u201cfirst Thanksgiving\u201d<\/a><\/em> as that 1621 get-together of Pilgrims and Native Americans at Plymouth. Really, though, it was a harvest celebration carried over from similar traditions in the Old World. And, it coincided with the corn harvest feast long practice by the Wampanoag Indians. The latter had taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, and had hit their own tribal stores to help the newcomers survive.<\/p>\n

Getting together for what turned out to be three days of eating, dancing and cultural exchange seemed like the natural thing to do. Such feasts, usually in fall and harvest-related, but held irregularly and with varying levels of religious zeal mixed with the age-old human tendency to find any excuse to party down, continued here and there into the 1800s.<\/p>\n

But the real, official Thanksgiving Day as a national observance came by presidential proclamation in 1863. Abraham Lincoln (at the time a newly committed Christian, by the way<\/a><\/em>) ordered that the last Thursday of November be set aside as \u201ca day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.\u201d<\/em> (Good grief; can you imagine the hue and cry from separationists and atheists if this was something new from the White House today?)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
In the worst of times, Thanksgiving grace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Be that as it may.<\/em> It occurs to me that the day Lincoln issued this proclamation, Oct. 3, 1863, came not at the nation\u2019s finest hour, not with the economy soaring and happiness ruling the land, but after a year of bloody battles with the Confederacy. Union armies had been defeated with heavy losses at Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg, and while Lee\u2019s Army of Northern Virginia had finally been halted at Gettysburg, the butcher\u2019s bill had been a bloody wash: 51,000 casualties, or one-third of the soldiers on both sides who fought and died for three days.<\/p>\n

Lee retired in order to dig in south of the Potomac River, battered but still full of fight; the war would rage on for another 22 months, and Lincoln would barely survive re-election in a war-weary North a year later.<\/p>\n

Thanksgiving, indeed.<\/em> Lincoln\u2019s proclamation contains much humility and a strong appeal to perspective. There is a yearning for\u00a0\u201cthe gracious gifts of the Most High God who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Lincoln told a nation bitterly divided and awash in the cruelty of war and deprivation that there was still no better time for \u201chumble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience\u201d<\/em> and to \u201ccommend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers\u201d<\/em> of war. The President concluded by praying for \u201cthe Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it . . . to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Today, our nation again is at war, weary of the losses thousands of young lives. Our economy is in recession and our leaders deadlocked over how to restore our fortunes. We are polarized over half a dozen issues, and fearful of a dark, uncertain future.<\/p>\n

President Obama could, with very little editing, re-issue Lincoln\u2019s Thanksgiving proclamation today for us all to consider on Thanksgiving 2011.<\/p>\n

We \u00a0have no shortage of\u00a0widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers <\/em>today.<\/p>\n

And God knows, we are in need of healing, tranquility and union.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Far more than a chance to gorge on turkey, stuffing, yams, pies, hams and mashed potatoes and gravy, Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, and the gift of perspective. We tend to look to the so-called \u201cfirst Thanksgiving\u201d as that 1621 get-together of Pilgrims and Native Americans at Plymouth. Really, though, it was a harvest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,8,70,83,359,379,7,9,1,264],"tags":[490,491,492,489,493],"class_list":["post-824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christ","category-faith","category-healing","category-jesus","category-philosophy","category-politics","category-pop","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","category-war","tag-lincoln","tag-pilgrims","tag-plymouth","tag-thanksgiving","tag-wampanoag"],"yoast_head":"\nThanskgiving: In tough times, it's all about perspective, and faith - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thanskgiving: In tough times, it's all about perspective, and faith - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Far more than a chance to gorge on turkey, stuffing, yams, pies, hams and mashed potatoes and gravy, Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, and the gift of perspective. We tend to look to the so-called \u201cfirst Thanksgiving\u201d as that 1621 get-together of Pilgrims and Native Americans at Plymouth. Really, though, it was a harvest…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-23T13:38:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/files\/2011\/11\/givingbackjpgtxt-300x199.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"remims\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Thanskgiving: In tough times, it's all about perspective, and faith - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Thanskgiving: In tough times, it's all about perspective, and faith - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World","og_description":"Far more than a chance to gorge on turkey, stuffing, yams, pies, hams and mashed potatoes and gravy, Thanksgiving is a time for reflection, and the gift of perspective. We tend to look to the so-called \u201cfirst Thanksgiving\u201d as that 1621 get-together of Pilgrims and Native Americans at Plymouth. Really, though, it was a harvest…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html","og_site_name":"Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World","article_published_time":"2011-11-23T13:38:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/files\/2011\/11\/givingbackjpgtxt-300x199.jpg"}],"author":"remims","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html","name":"Thanskgiving: In tough times, it's all about perspective, and faith - Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/files\/2011\/11\/givingbackjpgtxt-300x199.jpg","datePublished":"2011-11-23T13:38:40+00:00","dateModified":"2011-11-23T13:38:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/#\/schema\/person\/8a8939f8ac7f7fd8a0c906f2c12c2b63"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/files\/2011\/11\/givingbackjpgtxt-300x199.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/preacherskid\/files\/2011\/11\/givingbackjpgtxt-300x199.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/2011\/11\/thanskgiving-in-tough-times-its-all-about-perspective-and-faith.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Thanskgiving: In tough times, it’s all about perspective, and faith"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/","name":"Preacher\u2019s Kid: Honest Faith, Real World","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Robert Mims","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/#\/schema\/person\/8a8939f8ac7f7fd8a0c906f2c12c2b63","name":"remims","description":"In 30-plus years as a journalist, I have written about subjects as varied as business, science, politics and the environment to sports, history and religion. Over the past 20 years, I have also freelanced magazines and ghostwritten numerous books with biographical, inspirational, historical and sociological themes. Among my awards over the years I most treasure earning regional recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists as Religion Writer of the Year, and finalist honors for both the Religion Newswriters Association's Templeton and Cornell feature writing prizes.","sameAs":["http:\/\/mimsmedia.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/author\/remims"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=824"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":833,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824\/revisions\/833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/preacherskid\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}