A Prayer for the New Year

God grant us this year a wider view

So we see others faults through the eyes of You-

Teach us to judge not with hasty tongue,

Neither the Adult...nor the Young

Give us patience and grace to endure.

And a stronger faith so we fell secure

And instead of remembering, help us forget

The irritations that caused us to fret

Freely forgiving for some offer

And finding each day a rich recompense

In offering a friendly helping hand

And trying in all ways to understand

That all of us whoever we are

Are trying to reach "an unreachable star"-

For the Great and Small...the Good and Bad,

The Young and Old...the Sad and Glad

Are asking today "Is Life Worth Living"

And the answer is only in Loving and Giving

For only Love can make men kind

And kindness of Heart brings Peace of Mind

And by giving Love, we can start this year

To Lift the clouds of Hate and Fear.

Helen Steiner Rice

A Christmas Prayer For You

LORD

We welcome You
into our hearts
and homes.
Bless us with
Your peace, fill us
with Your joy,
surround us with
Your love.
We celebrate You
and thank You
for coming.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

Amen.

President Bushs' Thanksgiving proclamation

Americans are a grateful people, ever mindful of the many ways we have been blessed. On Thanksgiving Day, we lift our hearts in gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy, the people we love and the gifts of our prosperous land.



Our country was founded by men and women who realized their dependence on God, and were humbled by His providence and grace. The early explorers and settlers who arrived in this land gave thanks for God's protection and for the extraordinary natural abundance they found. Since the first national Day of Thanksgiving was proclaimed, Americans have come together to offer thanks for our many blessings. We recall the great privilege it is to live in a land where freedom is the right of every person and where all can pursue their dreams. We express our deep appreciation for the sacrifices of the honorable men and women in uniform who defend liberty. As they work to advance the cause of freedom, our Nation keeps these brave individuals and their families in our thoughts and we pray for their safe return.



While Thanksgiving is a time to gather in a spirit of Gratitude with family, friends, and neighbors, it is also an opportunity to serve others and to share our blessings with those in need. By answering the universal call to love a neighbor as we want to be loved ourselves, we make our Nation a more hopeful and caring place.



This Thanksgiving, may we reflect upon the past year with gratefulness and look toward the future with hope. Let us give thanks for all we have been given and ask God to continue to bless our families and our Nation.



NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of American, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Thursday, November 22, 2007, as a National Day of Thanksgiving. I encourage all Americans to gather together in their homes and places of worship with family, friends, and loved one to reinforce the ties that bind us and give thanks for the freedoms and many blessings we enjoy.



IN WITNESS THEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-second.

Thanksgiving Proclamation 1863

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord.



We know that by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptious sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?



We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity, we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.



But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.



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.



Abraham Lincoln 1863

Thanksgiving History and Traditions

America's first Thanksgiving, in 1621, was a three-day celebration of feasting and recreation. The prior year was the Pilgrims' first winter at Plymouth, and it was so harsh almost half of the colonists perished.

By the second harvest, there was reason to rejoice. A peace treaty was signed with the Wampanoag, the Pilgrims' Native American neighbors. And Massasoit, their leader, shared his agricultural expertise, which resulted in a bumper crop. As was common in England, where the Pilgrims originated, they chose to commemorate their bounty with a harvest festival.

Most accounts of the actual event mention neither turkey nor pumpkin, our modern Thanksgiving staples. Indian corn was plentiful, however. Four valiant Pilgrim housewives supervised the feast that Massasoit and 90 of his people attended, bringing five deer as their contribution to the communal table.

Presumable, the Pilgrims followed the English custom of the day and served their neighbors buffet-style; dishes were placed on the table and guests helped themselves. There were no forks, only knives, spoons, and large napkins that were used to pick up hot foods and to tidy the face and fingers. Food could be eaten directly from the serving dish or you could share a trencher (wooden plate). No meal could begin without saying grace, since the Pilgrims believed that their good fortune was due to their relationship to God.

Similar New England harvest festivals evolved into an annual tradition, officially acknowledged in 1777, when the Continental Congress declared the first national Thanksgiving. President Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday in 1863, after 23 years of lobbying by Sarah Josepha Hale, an acclaimed author and editor.

The regional foods of New England, including turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin, came to be identified with the holiday, as did the inspirational story of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag tribe feasting and coexisting in peace.

Criticism

I consider myself a good cook. My taste buds are sharp. I detect when a strong or wrong spice is used in food. I complain when the meat is tough, the potatoes are not done, the gravy lumpy, the salad limp. You get the picture . Often, I complain about other things as well.



Examining the reason for complaining usually points a finger back at me. Am I finding fault with the issue to make my self feel superior, or am I genuinely wanting to make an improvement?



Are you a fence straddler or do you speak out when an important issue comes before you. Do you make a positive comment, an opposing comment or do you just stay mum. I'm usually vocal with my opinions and sometimes it gets me into trouble.



Recently I read an enlightening article (author unknown) that pointed out how you can actually learn to like criticism. This was a unique idea that people only appreciate 'constructive criticism.'

The key issue is how to take criticism...whether you can take it in stride, or if it shakes you up, or if, hopefully you can use it to your advantage. Sometimes criticism is really a test of how strong you are... and how you can profit from it by trying to improve yourself, and recognize what you know and what you don't know. Few people can take harsh criticism without appearing to be upset by it, but if we take criticism gracefully we can use it to our advantage.



A poet once wrote: "The stones that critics hurl with harsh intent, man may use to build a monument."

God's Blessings Declared Unto You!

"Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee and the light shall shine upon they ways." Job 22:28

That the peace of God will enter into your mind and destroy all confusion sent by the enemy. Phil.4:7

That the joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

That you will gain understanding of your God-ordained assignment. Psalm 119:104

That the plots of the enemy against you are cancelled in the name of Jesus Christ. John 10"10

That the blessings of God will overtake you. Deut. 18:1,2

That you are a blessing to the nation. Malachi 3:12

That you children are purpose-filled by the Lord. Matt.21:16

That no weapon that is formed against you will prosper. Isaiah 54:17

That the healing hand of God will cancel every sickness & disease & replace it with wholeness. Isaiah 53:5

That you are no longer a victim but a victor n Jesus' name. I John 4:4

That He who has begun a good work in you will complete it in you. Phil.1:5

That you can do all things through Christ which strengthens you. Phil.1:6

That your God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory. Phil.4:19

That the lies of man have no power over your life. Psalm. 110:1

The the generational curses in your life are broken from your life. Matt.11:29

That your finances are pressed down, shaken together and running over with abundance. Luke 6:38

That you are blessed to be a blessing. Hebrews 6:14

That you are fearfully and wonderfully made by the hand of God. Psalm 13:14

That you are free to praise the Lord. Psalm 150:6

That you have the authority to bind every demon and ungodly spirit. Matt. 16:19