


A Native
American Prayer
author unknown

Earth
teach me stillness
as the grasses are stilled with light.
Earth teach me suffering
as old stones suffer with memory.
Earth teach me humility
as blossoms are humble with beginning.
Earth Teach me caring
as the mother who secures her young.
Earth teach me courage
as the tree which stands alone.
Earth teach me limitation
as the ant which crawls on the ground.
Earth teach me freedom
as the eagle which soars in the sky.
Earth teach me resignation
as the leaves which die in the fall.
Earth teach me regeneration
as the seed which rises in the spring.
Earth teach me to forget myself
as melted snow forgets its life.
Earth teach me to remember kindness
as dry fields weep in the rain.

A Thanksgiving Prayer
Samuel F. Pugh

"O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen."


The Story of
Thanksgiving

In
1621, after a hard and devastating first year in the New World the Pilgrim's
fall harvest was very successful and plentiful. There was corn, fruits,
vegetables, along with fish which was packed in salt, and meat that was smoke
cured over fires. They found they had enough food to put away for the winter.
The Pilgrims had beaten the odds. They built homes in the wilderness, they
raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, and they
were at peace with their Indian neighbors. Their Governor, William Bradford,
proclaimed a day of thanksgiving that was to be shared by all the colonists and
the neighboring Native American Indians.
The custom of an annually celebrated thanksgiving, held after the harvest,
continued through the years. During the American Revolution (late 1770's) a day
of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.
In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom. By the
middle of the 19th century many other states also celebrated a Thanksgiving Day.
In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointed a national day of thanksgiving.
Since then each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation, usually
designating the fourth Thursday of each November as the holiday.

Giving Thanks
(Author Unknown)
For the hay and the corn and the wheat that is reaped,
For the labor well done, and the barns that are heaped,
For the sun and the dew and the sweet honeycomb,
For the rose and the song and the harvest brought home
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!
For the trade and the skill and the wealth in our land,
For the cunning and strength of the workingman's hand,
For the good that our artists and poets have taught,
For the friendship that hope and affection have brought
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!
For the homes that with purest affection are blest,
For the season of plenty and well-deserved rest,
For our country extending from sea unto sea;
The land that is known as the "Land of the Free"
Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving!


Thanksgiving Page2