A WORD FOR TODAY, November 27, 2025
Peggy Hoppes
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Blessings. Peg
A WORD FOR TODAY, November 27, 2025
“Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands! Serve Yahweh with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. For Yahweh is good. His loving kindness endures forever, his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100, WEB
Chad Bird, a Lutheran theologian, wrote in a post on Facebook today: “Charles Dickens once suggested that Americans, instead of having just one Thanksgiving Day each year, ought to have 364. ‘Use that one day just for complaining and griping,’ he said. ‘Use the other 364 days to thank God each day for the many blessings he has showered upon you.’ - Andrew Schroer, 364 Days of Thanksgiving.”
We are so very blessed. We should be singing songs of thanksgiving every day of our lives for the many gifts God has given us. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln asked all Americans to set aside one day a year, the final Thursday in November, to give thanks to God. Franklin Roosevelt changed it to the fourth Thursday. For many people, the day is not a religious holiday, but one to remember our history and the early settlers who made America. In school, the children learn about the Pilgrims and Indians, recreate the first Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a time for vacation, for reunions, and for transitioning from the ordinary to the season of Christmas. At home, we say a five-minute grace thanking God for our material blessings, eat too much food, and then watch parades and football all day.
Some people are surprised to hear that Thanksgiving is about thanking God for our blessings. We have forgotten why Abraham Lincoln set this day apart in the first place. In his proclamation, he said, “It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.”
We have so much to be thankful for; we have warm homes and plenty of food. We have more than we can even list in just a day, an abundance of reasons to be thankful, all gifts which God has given out of His great wealth. Most of all, though, we have the love and mercy of our Father in Heaven, and the peace that comes from life in Christ. May we never forget that everything we have comes from God from the simplest most worldly things to heaven itself, and may we constantly praise Him for His goodness.
On this day called Thanksgiving, let us remember to thank God for His many blessings. In the midst of the football and pumpkin pie, focus on the Father and His Son and the blessing of eternal life, which is the greatest blessing you can receive.
Father in heaven, I thank you for all I was, all I am and all I will be, through your Son, Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen.
A WORD FOR TODAY is posted five days a week – Monday through Friday. The devotional on Wednesday takes a look at the scripture from the Revised Common Lectionary for the upcoming Sunday. A WORD FOR TODAY is posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/A-Word-for-Today-Devotional/339428839418276. Like the page to receive the devotion through Facebook. For information and to access our archives, visit http://www.awordfortoday.org.