As we enter the Thanksgiving season, Writers Who Care would like to express our gratitude for you. Probably one of the most overlooked holidays on the American calendar is Thanksgiving. Already, store aisles are packed with Christmas!

While I love Christmas, the Thanksgiving season is set aside for Americans to remember to be thankful. May we never forget all our blessings. We have often heard the story of the Pilgrims (a story that has been revised over the years). The Pilgrims were 102 men, women, and children who set sail from the Netherlands seeking better economic prospects, religious freedom, and an improved environment for their children. They were primarily of the "separatist" persuasion and "committed themselves to the will of God" in their endeavors to start anew.

What is remarkably different from our 21st century Thanksgiving is that for the Pilgrims, thanksgiving was a way of life. Only about 50 Pilgrims had survived the first year. After a year of grave sickness, disease, and overwhelming weather conditions, they found solace in their faith in their Sovereign God.

How? The Pilgrims habitually looked for reasons in their circumstances to be grateful. Certainly, God had smiled down on them that first Thanksgiving morn when William Bradford wrote, "It has pleased God so to possess the Indians with a fear of us, and love unto us." Their high view of God led naturally to thanksgiving because of their newfound relationship with the native Americans and in spite of the horrors of that first year.

God had preserved them alive and full of bounty. He had put people in their lives to help them along the way and they, in turn, built lasting relationships with those whom they shared life.

May our celebrations this November 24th stem from an attitude of gratitude. Americans have more to be thankful for than anyone in the world. Writers Who Care would like to express our gratitude for your support in our desire to write words that make a difference. Thank you for sharing life with us!