In another time and place Christians were faced with terrible persecution.  The year was 1607 and The Pilgrims were mistreated because of their faith.  They were personally harmed, disrespected and treated as outcasts in England.  Under the leadership of William Bradford they departed for Holland where they had to learn a new language, customs and face difficult days.  In 1618 the Pilgrims’ Church in Leyden, Holland petitioned the Counsel of England for permission to travel to the new land and settle in Virginia.  In 1620 this small band of believers departed from Holland to England and boarded a ship bound for America.  Out of 103 Pilgrims who left, 51 died that first terrible winter in the New World.

On November 29, 1623, three years after the Pilgrims’ arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a day of Thanksgiving.  He recognized God’s hand of providence upon the Pilgrim’s and acknowledged the goodness of God in the midst of hard times.  He said,

“In as much as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game, and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience;

“Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.”

Deprivation and hardship did not dampen the spirits of those who survived so much.  They were willing to look beyond the losses sustained and give God the credit for temporal provisions and His protective care.  Their perspective was positive and their outlook hopeful.  Self pity did not enter the picture.

How are you viewing life these days?  If the turkey and trimmings are not a possibility for your budget this year do you still feel as though God has had his hand upon your life?  Will you be able to say thanks for a “plate half full”?