Some Thanksgiving Thoughts From Our Founding Fathers

Some Thanksgiving thoughts from Presidents Washington and Jefferson:

President Washington:

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor …

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be … that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

President Jefferson:

I consider the government of the U S. as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment, or free exercise, of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the U.S. Certainly no power to prescribe any religious exercise, or to assume authority in religious discipline, has been delegated to the general government. It must then rest with the states, as far as it can be in any human authority.

But it is only proposed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting & prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the U.S. an authority over religious exercises which the Constitution has directly precluded them from. It must be meant too that this recommendation is to carry some authority, and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those who disregard it; not indeed of fine and imprisonment, but of some degree of proscription perhaps in public opinion.

And does the change in the nature of the penalty make the recommendation the less a law of conduct for those to whom it is directed? I do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the civil magistrate to direct it’s exercises, it’s discipline, or it’s doctrines; nor of the religious societies that the general government should be invested with the power of effecting any uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting & prayer are religious exercises. The enjoining them an act of discipline. Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the times for these exercises, & the objects proper for them, according to their own particular tenets; and this right can never be safer than in their own hands, where the constitution has deposited it.

I am aware that the practice of my predecessors may be quoted. But I have ever believed that the example of state executives led to the assumption of that authority by the general government, without due examination, which would have discovered that what might be a right in a state government, was a violation of that right when assumed by another. Be this as it may, every one must act according to the dictates of his own reason, & mine tells me that civil powers alone have been given to the President of the U S. and no authority to direct the religious exercises of his constituents.

The Plan

The Political Class, the Councilmen, Mayors, Representatives and Senators, County, City, State, and Nation they think that they are the movers and shakers, he one who make things get done.  But they arebut the stagehands setting the stage for the real actors the people. The people who work and live their lives in anonymity to the movers and shakers.  The workers, Doctors, Plumbers, The Carpenters, Lawyers, Engineers, The Farmers, Mechanics, Labors, The Technicians, Nurses, Clerks, and on and on and on and on… The People.

The people's stories are seldom told, other than by word of mouth.

But upon this stage they play out their lives In Drama, Comedies, Farces, and yes As often as not in Tragedies. Or, as the Man said: “Full of sound and fury

Signifying nothing”, from top to bottom. The Lord has a Plan And everything is going accordingly.  The Muckedey Mucks live at the top; on the back of the Mucks’ who carry the load.  The high and the mighty, the rich and the powerful

They are all in the palm of His hand working for His plan’s fulfillment,

Willingly or not they put each piece in its place Like when the brother’s sold Joseph into slavery for their own reasons to work God’s plan.

Now come to today and do you think just because time has passed

That God has forgotten His plan? What plan is that, you ask?

Why you really do know, it started when Adam took on sin,

And worked on out to where Jesus came to put to an end

To the separation from God we have endured from our birth into sin

That has led to the death of every soul borne unto flesh.

To move us, His creature, made in His image and likeness

From the corruptible to the incorruptible, from the finite to the infinite.

In His plan’s working death came into the world by the actions

Of one man’s disobedience when Adam partook of the forbidden fruit

And came to know that he stood naked before God.

And the Son of Man’s obedience unto His death on the cross

Devouring the fruit of sin which was death when He arose from the grave.

What you say, that was a long time ago and we are still dying?

True, but the plan, remember the plan?  It is not complete until Jesus Returns,

And the adversary is locked away into the fiery pits of Hell.

A Perseptions Of Perseptions

Now take perception, for example the other night, I spent the night in a hotel in Concord after the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. When I went to bed I turned on the TV and "How I Met Your Mother" was on. I have never watched it before as it is just not the type of programming I care for, but before I switched the channel I watched a scene where this young man and young lady were sitting watching a movie. The man explained to the woman how he saw the main character in the movie, and then she explained how she saw the same character. 

The pertinent part is what the man said after the woman finished when her thoughts, "It is obvious that we are watching two entirely different movies." The point being that we all see the world through our experiences and perceptions, thus no two people can perceive anything in the same way. Because of where the young man sat as a young man he could not see the movie as the young woman did nor could the young woman see the movie as a young man would. 

Now substitute in white, black, youth, aged, or whatever you might wish in the plavce of theyoung man and young woman and you can see the problem we have when we start trying to truly understand the human condition. You tell your part, I tell my part, and together someone may understand a part that neither of us did if we tell of our understanding.