Amisk
9th October 2006, 01:11 AM
Thanksgiving arrives in Canada on October 9th. . It brought me back to some old letters to the local editor and so I thought I would copy one that seemed fitting for this year.
The first Canadian Thanksgiving was in 1578 when the English navigator Martin Frobisher landed on the rough shores of Newfoundland. When he and his mariners stepped onto "The Rock", later to be called Newfoundland, they knelt to give thanks to God for granting them a safe journey across the tempestuous North Atlantic.
In 1879, Parliamentarians set November 6th as a statutory holiday on which the country was to thank God for the blessings He had given them over the past year. It was to be a time of rejoicing and a time to remember that the citizens of the nation were indebted to God Almighty for gifts that He alone had provided in the last twelve months.
As the years passed and the country expanded and with the general means of making a living shifting from fishing and farming to other industries, the day for remembering God’s blessings drifted from one day to another until in January of 1957 the Canadian Parliament official set aside the second Monday of October as Thanksgiving Day.
We in Canada have once more arrived at Thanksgiving Day, a time to remember that we owe God Almighty thanks for every breath we take, the national freedom given us by God through the blood of many a vet, every bite of food we eat, the warm dry bed we sleep in, and the luxuries we so often take for granted, and not forgetting that God gave His only Son for our salvation. We live in a beautiful land from sea to seas where blessings rain down daily from God above.
As we move up to overloaded tables this Thanksgiving Day, let us keep in mind that all or anyone of these blessings can be swept away by our indifference to the God who provides for us.
The first Canadian Thanksgiving was in 1578 when the English navigator Martin Frobisher landed on the rough shores of Newfoundland. When he and his mariners stepped onto "The Rock", later to be called Newfoundland, they knelt to give thanks to God for granting them a safe journey across the tempestuous North Atlantic.
In 1879, Parliamentarians set November 6th as a statutory holiday on which the country was to thank God for the blessings He had given them over the past year. It was to be a time of rejoicing and a time to remember that the citizens of the nation were indebted to God Almighty for gifts that He alone had provided in the last twelve months.
As the years passed and the country expanded and with the general means of making a living shifting from fishing and farming to other industries, the day for remembering God’s blessings drifted from one day to another until in January of 1957 the Canadian Parliament official set aside the second Monday of October as Thanksgiving Day.
We in Canada have once more arrived at Thanksgiving Day, a time to remember that we owe God Almighty thanks for every breath we take, the national freedom given us by God through the blood of many a vet, every bite of food we eat, the warm dry bed we sleep in, and the luxuries we so often take for granted, and not forgetting that God gave His only Son for our salvation. We live in a beautiful land from sea to seas where blessings rain down daily from God above.
As we move up to overloaded tables this Thanksgiving Day, let us keep in mind that all or anyone of these blessings can be swept away by our indifference to the God who provides for us.