History

Notes Before Thanksgiving

by Terry Barlow
11/09/16
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   Ever felt that God's plan for your life had been derailed or knocked off course somehow?  Well, the Pilgrims whose first harvest we celebrate at Thanksgiving time felt that way.  Fleeing persecution and seeking religous liberty, these Separatists landed considerably north of where they had planned to land (Hudson River) on our east coast.  But it so happens that the place they did land just happened to be the only cleared spot in the area as well as the only spot free of Hostile Indian tribes.  Not only that but there just happened to be Indians in the area who spoke English.  One of those was Squanto who had been abducted and sold as a slave by an English sea captain but somehow found his way back home across the Atlantic, having learned the English language.  He went on to teach the Pilgrims how to plant corn and where to fish and hunt, and was vital to their survival those initial months, even though only four of the Pilgrims' families remained intact after the first brutal winter when half their number had lost their lives.  Squanto also helped to forge a successful treaty between the Indians and the Pilgrims that would be effective for the next 50 years, something rare in history between the white man and the Indians. 

   The point is that all this followed from strong winds that blew their little ship, the Mayflower, off course.  At least it seemed off course to them at the time.  But in reality these winds were in perfect accord with God's overarching plan for them.  And so it may be with whatever specific resistances we as a people or as individuals are meeting in fulfilling certain expectations for our lives.  It may feel "off course" to us, but with God who sees the bigger picture, it may be right on course and right on time.   So we too can give thanks even in hardship as the Pilgrims were doing, about a hundred of them crammed into the cargo space of a smelly little wine barge the size of a volley ball court for 66 days!  Even the wine stains served as a disinfectant against diseases like scurvy.

   Giving thanks to God and others is, after all, the simplest expression of faith.  Our hardships may pale in comparison to those of the early Pilgrims, but everything we're going through can be as one of them wrote, "for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith."