A Harvest of Thanks
by Laura Lee
Week of November 21, 2004
“You are my God, and I will give You thanks; You are my God,
and I will exalt You. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His love endures forever.” (Psalm 118:28–29, NIV)
My elementary school in 1969 portrayed the first Thanksgiving with men wearing black hats, starched shirts with white collars and big belt buckles. The women wore crisp black dresses with long skirts, a white apron and white-rimmed bonnets. The image of wild Indians with painted faces, buckskinned pants and feathered headdresses sparked our imaginations. The pictures in the textbook showed these characters seated around a very long table with a plethora of food… turkey, corn on the cob, pumpkin pie. What a picture of feasting and celebration!!!
However, the first Thanksgiving was not quite as ideal as the images from the cutouts posted on the classroom wall. The Pilgrims had come to the New World on the Mayflower in November of 1620. A year later, in the fall of 1621 between September and November, they celebrated the first Thanksgiving. There were no belt buckles, no starched shirts and no pumpkin pie. It was not even called Thanksgiving. Their gathering was a harvest celebration to revel in the success of their crops and express thankfulness; a thankfulness that comes out of walking through trying times.
The pilgrims did not have an easy go their first year settling the Plymouth Colony. Typical cargo included a trunk of clothes, limited dried foods, a few tools and maybe some livestock. They had to cut trees to build their homes, barns and furniture. Their first winter was bleak and hard. Some starved, and many died due to illness.
Spring finally arrived and brought with it the backbreaking chore of clearing and plowing the land. Then, they had to sow the seed. Summer brought heat, weeds and insects in their crops. The women had to make all the food from scratch – no running out to the corner bakery for bread. The stresses in this strange, often dangerous land were tremendous. Certainly it was hard to see any promise of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest yet to come while struggling day to day. Still, they persevered.
Edward Winslow, a leader of the first settlement in Plymouth, wrote about this feast in his journal, A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymout, “And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty."
After they had endured much toil, this harvest celebration was truly about offering their thanks to God for all He had brought them through. They had arrived to a point of blessing where they had more than enough -- they were far from want and had enough to wish others were there to share in it.
Fast-forward to today the 21st century. Our modern Thanksgiving holiday has its own ideal image - the joyful homecoming, the gathering around the food-laden table. But, like the paper cutouts on the schoolroom wall, the ideal does not always reflect reality.
Perhaps, like the pilgrims, this has been a hard year for you, and giving thanks may be something you do not feel you can nor want to do. Your home may have been destroyed, and you have to start all over again. Maybe a divorce has divided your family. Have you been battling a chronic illness? Perhaps you have lost a loved one to a disease or accident. These paths are hard to walk. It is often impossible to see the promise of a bountiful harvest yet to come when struggling from day to day.
1 Peter 1:7 shows us the valuable harvest from difficult trials. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (NIV)
This Week
If your circumstance seem hopeless, turn to Christ’s example, “Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him Who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” (Hebrews 12:2-3, NIV)
Prayer
Father, help me to “not grow weary and lose heart” but to be filled with thanksgiving no matter what my circumstances. Just as the pilgrims had gone through a season of want, they eventually reaped a harvest so plentiful that, “yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty." I will “give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”
