“A Thanksgiving to God, for his House”
Lord, Thou hast given me a cell Wherein to dwell, A little house, whose humble roof Is weather-proof: Under the spars of which I lie Both soft, and dry; […]
The Human Longing for Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Reflection
Gratitude remains the only key that unshackles us and lets us breathe free. We all unthinkingly use the phrase “the gift of life,” but it is only a gift if we really think of it as such. Myth is not fiction. Myth is truth that ignores the facts. Myths are the tales we tell each [...]
Approaching Thanks
The word for truth in Greek means the absence of forgetting—the sudden recollection, the vivid recovery. In the great tradition of the West, when those who study it retrieve immense and priceless knowledge from forgetfulness, we find the hope of renewal. As we approach Thanksgiving this year, the coronavirus phenomenon helps us value rightly what [...]
Presidential Proclamation on Thanksgiving Day
On Thanksgiving Day, we remember with reverence and gratitude the bountiful blessings afforded to us by our Creator, and we recommit to sharing in a spirit of thanksgiving and generosity with our friends, neighbors, and families. Nearly four centuries ago, determined individuals with a hopeful vision of a more prosperous life and an abundance of opportunities made [...]
A Thanksgiving Tale of Redemption: “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”
A lighthearted romp at first blush, “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” yet tells the story of how the example of simple goodness can be transformational. The category of “Thanksgiving movies” is a select one indeed, but it is not meant as faint praise to crown John Hughes’ 1987 film, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the greatest Thanksgiving [...]
The Grace of Owing
To be truly grateful means that one holds oneself in the grace of owing. It means alert and noble attention to the good intended by the giver. Giving thanks is such a beautifully natural gesture that it seems almost perverse to admire someone for not making it. But Dr. Samuel Johnson earns such admiration in [...]
Proclamation Appointing a Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer
Whereas the Honourable the General Congress, impressed with a grateful sense of the goodness of Almighty God, in blessing the greater part of this extensive continent with plentiful harvests, crowning our arms with repeated successes, conducting us hitherto safely through the perils with which we have been encompassed and manifesting in multiplied instances his divine care [...]
Gratitude for Those Who Are Gone
For all that we are often lost amid the loneliness, hostage to the gravity and grief that cause us to fall, there is always that sudden and unexpected upsurge of grace and glory to lift us high above the dark and sullen weight of so many dead and dying leaves... An old and valued friend, [...]
Harmony and Order: Giving Thanks
In a season of disharmony, discord, distrust, and disorder, it is often painful to stop, to pause, and to give oneself distance enough to consider what must be recognized as good, and true, and beautiful, even in what seems a cesspool of existence. To give thanks, though, is not only necessary, it is salubrious! In [...]
We Will Give Thanks
For most of us, Thanksgiving gives rise to some of the best memories of childhood, perhaps because the day is not complicated by the dramatic rituals and more profound emotions of other holidays. For my family in Georgia and South Carolina, Thanksgiving was the occasion when all my aunts and uncles and all my cousins [...]
A Gypsy Thanksgiving: Food That Will Help You Live Longer
Food is a way to enjoy being alive. Drink wine and dance around the kitchen; kiss your beloved. Life can be beautiful… Experts with scientific credentials tell us the best way to resolve interpersonal conflicts, how to raise children, and what food to eat. These new gurus maintain that in principle scientific truths can guide [...]
Skyjack: The Mystery of D.B. Cooper’s Thanksgiving Eve Jump
Why does the mystery of D.B. Cooper, who on November 24, 1971 committed the only unsolved airline hijacking in history, continue to fascinate us? On the evening of November 24, 1971—the day before Thanksgiving—a dark-haired man dressed in a black raincoat, dark suit and thin, black tie, white shirt, and brown loafers approached the Northwest [...]
Reminiscences of a Christian Girl in Wartime Holland
If you’ve seen Jan Steen’s famous painting The Feast of St. Nicholas, you understand what an important place that holiday holds in the hearts of Dutch children, like My neighbor, Mrs. Stien. “A famous legend,” I declare carelessly of the one of the tales of the saint; she corrects me: “not a legend, but a [...]
The Gift of Thanks
May this Thanksgiving be a feast of many gifts, both in the families we love and in this great nation for which we pray... Thanksgiving has always been an occasion when we offer God our gratitude for the many blessings He has given us. It is surely the most familial of our national holidays, but [...]