Giving Thanks for a Great Nation

Any number of headlines popped up this week regarding this or that complaint about Thanksgiving.  Meanwhile, Americans will feast together in record number to celebrate their good fortune.  The few that do not will be in the small minority.  We are truly the most blessed nation on the planet and have much to be for which to be grateful.  We have freedom, a culture that supports freedom and unimaginable wealth.  Even our poor would be considered rich in the third world.  So I am giving thanks for our country and the bounty God has provided.  I do so with a sense of humility, knowing that God's goodness had a great deal to do with our good fortune.  Our rights and our wealth come from His Providence.

In the spirit of the season, I watched the original Red Dawn, starring Patrick Swayze.  How is it in the spirit of the season?  It captures the film maker's sense of who we are as a nation at our core; which is only revealed in the crucible of grave crisis. I agree with Max Lucado, who said that crisis doesn't develop character, crisis reveals character.  I worry that events will soon reveal the character of the nation; I am not worried that we will rise to the occasion, just that we will be slow to respond at first.

Have some turkey, the ones the President didn't pardon, and enjoy time with family and friends.

Here is my favorite patriotic hymn that I always associate with Thanksgiving, even though it was written to celebrate the 100th Independence Day.  God of our Fathers from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.