THANKSGIVING QUOTES

THANKSGIVING QUOTES

"To all ye Pilgrims:In as much as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetable, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience;

"Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November ye 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings. William Bradford, Ye Governor of Ye Colony."
--William Bradford (1590-1657), Pilgrim father and second governor of Plymouth colony.

Thankfulness for Both Good and Bad

"My God, I have never thanked Thee for my 'thorn!' I have thanked Thee a thousand times for my roses, but never once for my 'thorn;' I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross as itself a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross; teach me the value of my 'thorn.' Show me that I have climbed to Thee by the path of pain. Show me that my tears have made my rainbow."
--George Matheson, (1842–1906) Scottish writer and minister.

"We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is good, because it is good, if bad, because it works in us patience, humility and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country."
--C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), Novelist, poet and Christian apologist.

"The Lord afflicts us at times; but it is always a thousand times less than we deserve, and much less than many of our fellow-creatures are suffering around us. Let us therefore pray for grace to be humble, thankful, and patient."
--John Newton (1725-1807), English slave ship master turned Anglican minister.

"The best helps to growth in grace are the ill usage, the affronts, and the losses which befall us. We should receive them with all thankfulness, as preferable to all others, were it only on this account, that our will has no part therein."
--John Wesley (1703-1791), Anglican priest and co-founder of Methodism.

Thankfulness in Prayer

"Let us thank God heartily as often as we pray that we have His Spirit in us to teach us to pray. Thanksgiving will draw our hearts out to God and keep us engaged with Him; it will take our attention from ourselves and give the Spirit room in our hearts."
--Andrew Murray (1828-1917), South African born missionary and minister.

"The prayer that begins with trustfulness, and passes on into waiting, will always end in thankfulness, triumph, and praise."
--Alexander MacLaren (1826-1910), Scottish born minister of Great Britain.

Thankfulness in Worship

"Gratitude is an offering precious in the sight of God, and it is one that the poorest of us can make and be not poorer but richer for having made it."
--A.W. Tozer (1897-1963), Christian author and church pastor in America and Canada.

"The Lord has given us a table at which to feast, not an altar on which a victim is to be offered; He has not consecrated priests to make sacrifice, but servants to distribute the sacred feast."
--John Calvin (1509-1564), French theologian and major church reformer.

"The height of devotion is reached when reverence and contemplation produce passionate worship, which in turn breaks forth in thanksgiving and praise in word and song."
--R. Kent Hughes, American church planter, pastor, author, Bible commentator.

Thankfulness of Heart and Mind

"A thankful heart is one of the primary identifying characteristics of a believer. It stands in stark contrast to pride, selfishness, and worry. And it helps fortify the believer's trust in the Lord and reliance of His provision, even in the toughest times. No matter how choppy the seas become, a believer's heart is buoyed by constant praise and gratefulness to the Lord."
--John MacArthur, American pastor, teacher, speaker, author.

"Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow."
--Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887), American pastor, reformer, and abolitionist.

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."
--G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer, journalist and Christian apologist.

"A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart."
--Charles Finney (1792-1875), Presbyterian minister, evangelist, abolitionist, Father of American Revivalism.