It is that time of year that we take time to express our thanksgiving. Traditionally many of us gather together with our family and friends to celebrate our gratitude to God for the blessings He has given us. It is also a time when we reach out to share our abundance with those who are less fortunate and struggling.

In our present time I can no longer take for granted that everyone knows the source of this traditional celebration. It was at one of our earliest settlements at Plymouth Rock that the Pilgrims, following the example found in the Book of Nehemiah in the Bible, that Americans first set aside a time of thanksgiving and celebration of gratitude to God.

Since that time many people have recognized the need to have a day set aside for this purpose. Our First President, George Washington, established a day of Thanksgiving in November. Others followed his example until it was established as a national day of celebration on the third Thursday of November.

I would like to encourage everyone to resurrect and read those declarations of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln that so eloquently expressed the gratitude and emotion of a nation that recognized the source of their blessings.

We today would do well to look beyond the present struggles that we may have.  We would do well to acknowledge the bountiful blessings we have been recipient of in the Country. That we would acknowledge that every good and perfect gift has come down from our Father in Heaven, the Creator of the Universe, in whose Son Jesus Christ we can have eternal life. So that God could continue to pour out His Blessings on us.