Happy Thanksgiving!

Back in my grade school music class, I remember singing songs from the early days of this country. We rarely hear them nowadays. In fact, I'd venture to say many have never heard them. But I think they're worth remembering and have much to say to this generation. Perhaps you'd like to add them to your holiday reflections...

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;

The wicked oppressing - now cease from distressing,

His Name be ever praised - He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,

Ordaining maintaining His Kingdom divine;

So from the beginning the fight we were winning;

Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, our Leader triumphant,

And pray that Thou still our Defender wilt be;

Let Thy congregation escape tribulation,

Thy Name be ever praised, O Lord, make us free!

Come Ye Thankful People Come

Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home.

All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin;

God our Maker doth provide, for our wants to be supplied,

Come ye thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God's own field, fruit as praise to God we yield,

Wheat and tares together sown, are to joy or sorrow grown;

First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear,

Lord of Harvest, grant that we, wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home,

From the field shall in that day, all offenses purge away;

Giving angels charge at last, in the fire the tares to cast,

But the fruitful ears to store - in the garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home,

Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin;

There, forever purified, in Thy presence to abide,

Come, with all Thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home!

As I ponder on these words, I realize again that life does not consist in the abundance of the "things" we possess. All these perish with the using. We brought nothing with us and can take nothing with us when we leave. Often, the things we express our thanks for on Thanksgiving Day are the tangible things that soon lose their charm. No wonder Jim Elliott said, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose."

Jesus said the real treasure is hidden - in earth and in earthen vessels. He wasn't talking about squirreling jewels away in dirt and pottery. The kind of earth He had in mind is man, who was made from the dust of the earth. Jesus' treasure is not stashed in a bank vault or flaunted as a prized possession. It can't be bought or sold on the stock exchange. No, the treasure Jesus recommends is laid up where moth and rust cannot corrupt and where thieves cannot break through and steal. It's the priceless knowledge that your name has been written in the Lamb's Book of Life. It's in knowing that He is able to keep what you have committed unto Him until the day of His appearing.

Set your affections on the only worthwhile treasure - a heart full of peace and joy - one that's prepared to seek and see God. That's a cause for true Thanksgiving!