Traditions to Get Behind

What traditions do you celebrate on Thanksgiving?

On Thursday of this week, most working Americans in the United States will receive a paid holiday to celebrate a national Thanksgiving Day, a day of feasting, family, fun and of course thanksgiving. It is estimated that 46 million turkeys will be eaten on this day and about the same number of people will travel to get to the place where they eat this traditional meal. 

At Holy Hen House, many readers have participated in our Grateful to God Challenge. Though not yet a tradition, we are in the second year. The stories and reflections are poignant, heartwarming and sincere! We thank our readers for the messages of faith, family, and friends that God has moved them to share. We look forward to more as the month continues. 

As these posts have attested, the fabric of our lives can be filled with joy and gratitude, no matter what our present circumstances. After all, we have been rescued and redeemed by a risen Lord! As women of faith we sing and make music to God with the attitude of gratitude that sets the tone for every family interaction.

A forgotten fact about American Thanksgiving is the perseverance of a woman named Sara Josepha Hale. For 17 years she crusaded to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. In support of the proposed national holiday, Hale wrote letters to five Presidents of the United States: Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. 

Her initial letters failed to persuade, but the letter she wrote to Lincoln convinced him to support legislation establishing a national holiday of Thanksgiving in 1863. The new national holiday was considered a unifying day after the stress of the American Civil War. To this day, Thanksgiving is the second favorite holiday of Americans. Churches across the land worship and thank God for his many blessings to our nation. Families gather around tables laden with these gifts. (Wikipedia) 

Today we are grateful for people like Sarah who persevere for their beliefs and do not give up. We especially celebrate women of faith who carry on the traditions of God’s people. Traditions like worship, Bible study, and teaching their children to pray. They might not do these perfectly, but as our tagline says,

"We are imperfect women spurred on by God’s perfect grace..."

God’s faithful are thankful and have grateful hearts. They live out the gospel and share it in a dark and dying world. They are…

“…always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Ephesians 5:20

Now, that’s a tradition we can all get behind.

From Holy Hen House, have a joyful and grateful Thanksgiving!