With the aftereffects of Hurricane Ike and the ongoing recession, plus everything from traffic to taxes, is this a good time to get thankful?
Local clergy said thanksgiving knows no season and that expressing gratitude is a good practice even in tough times. Indeed, the original celebration that set the pattern for today was born out of hardships.
The first Thanksgiving followed the death of 50 colonists and a harsh winter. Undeterred, none of the remaining band elected to return with the Mayflower when it set sail for England in April 1621.
Instead, the colonists chose to persevere and soon sat down with 90 Native American friends to enjoy that first Thanksgiving celebration.
Mission Galveston-Texas City Director Raju Samuels has seen the suffering of the poor in both his native India and here in Galveston County. He’s thankful this year, even though he himself lost most of his possessions to Hurricane Ike in 2008.
“Thanksgiving is a special time, especially this year,” he said. “To me and my family, every day is a thanksgiving day. First, we want to thank God for blessing me and my family with the great privilege to live in a great country called America.
“We don’t have a special Thanksgiving Day where I came from. I am so proud being a part of a great nation that separates a special day to give thanks to our creator for all his blessing.”
The Rev. David H. Green, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Galveston, made a case for giving thanks regardless of hurricanes and the other trials.
“The Bible tells us that there are two times when we are to give thanks: when we’re thankful and when we’re not,” he said.
“There is something profoundly honest when a prayer of thanksgiving is spoken in uncertain or terrible times. In that moment, we acknowledge that God has promised to be with us — whatever our circumstances.
“Even if we are moving through the valley of the shadow of death, we are able to give thanks.”
Ahmed E. Ahmed, a professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch and a member of Galveston Islamic Center, quoted a scripture that says human beings cannot number the favors of God.
“Specifically, I am grateful to Almighty, our creator, for his gracious giving in the past year following the devastating visit of Ike,” he said.
“Today, with beautiful weather, while crossing the bay to Galveston Island, the sun was shining, the water was blue and the causeway clean and new, I remembered how God is generous to us. His bounteousness filled our hearts with love and caring.
“We all, Jews, Christians, Muslims and others with our hearts overflowing with God-given compassion, emerged together holding each other’s hands and working in concert to relieve the pain of others and ours and to rejuvenate our beautiful Island.
“Also, I am continuously appreciative to Almighty for having me living in the free America and for giving me and my family the liberty to peacefully practice my faith and live in harmony with those with other faiths. And for surrounding me with intelligent people with whom we discuss the similarities of our diverse faiths without being contemptuous to each others. My always prayer is God Bless the land of freedom, America.”
Thanksgiving Day became a public holiday with an 1863 proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. In the middle of the intense and ongoing anguish of the Civil War, which he declared to be “of unequaled magnitude and severity,” he nonetheless stated that the country was filled with wealth and that freedom was increasing.
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things,” Lincoln wrote.
“They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.”
